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BEING A CHRISTIAN: 



What It Means, and How to Begin. 



BY 



WASHINGTON GLADDEN. 



>}«< 



. AiuH- 



f^:h* 




BOSTON: 

congregational publishing society. 

BEACON STREET. 
1876. 








OP Congress 
Washington 



COPYRIGHT. 
CONGREGATIOi^AL PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 

1876. 



BOSTON : 

STEBEOTYPED BY O. J. PETERS AND BON, 

73 FEDERAL STREET. 



PEE FACE. 



This little book will fall, I trust, into the 
hands of many who are not Christians. Some of 
them are not Christians simply because they do 
not want to be. They are not willing to give up 
their sins, and devote themselves to the unselfish 
service of Christ. But others of them do want 
to be Christians, only they do not know how to 
begin. Again and again they have tried to 
begin, and have always failed. They have heard 
that they must give their hearts to Christ, if they 
would be Christians ; and they have knelt more 
than once, in secret, and said, just as honestly 
as they could, — 

" Here, Lord, I give myself away, 
'Tis aU that I can do," — 

waiting, then, for a light to shine down upon 
them, or for a burden to roll off, or for a flood 

1 



2 PKEFACE. 



of joy to fill their souls. Because nothing of the 
sort has ever happened to them, they have always 
sadly concluded that their consecration was not • 
rightly made, that for some inscrutable reason 
God was not pleased to accept them ; and their 
efforts to lead a Christian life have therefore 
been abandoned as often as they have been 
made. 

Every faithful pastor knows that, in all our 
congi^egations, there are many such perplexed 
and discouraged seekers. These plain conversa- 
tions are intended for them. No one will be 
made willing to be a Christian by reading this 
little book ; but I hope that it may help those 
who are willing in finding the right way. 

North Chubch Study, Spklngfieu), 
Feb. 28, 1876. 



OOT^TTEl^TS. 



PAGE 

I. WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? . • 7 

II. WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN ? . • 31 

III. HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? . . 55 

IV. HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHER I AM A 

CHRISTIAN, OR NOT? . . . . . 79 

V. WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHURCH? . . 105 

VI» BUT AND IF . . . . . . . 127 



I. 



SEf)at is it to fie a (Christian. 




WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN! 



rriHE ritualist is ready with. Ms answer. 
"^ *' It is to be a meraber of the Christian 
Church," he tells you. *' All who have been 
baptized with water in the name of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 'are 
Christians." 

In a certain formal sense this is true. All 
foreigners who have been naturalized are, 
before the law, Americans ; and all human 
beings who have received baptism are, nomi- 
nally at least. Christians. Baptism is the 
rite by which we are admitted to the visible 
Church, and those who have been baptized 
are members of the Church. 

But we who have always lived in America 
are inclined to think that the simple act of 

7 1 



8 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 

taking out his naturalization papers will not 
make any man a good American. No man 
worthily bears that name, we say, who does 
not know something of the principles upon 
which this nation is founded, and who does 
not heartily deyote himself to the mainten- 
ance of these principles in public and in 
private life. True Americans are not made 
by a process of law : it is by their sympathies, 
their choices, their heroic labors and sacri- 
fices in behalf of their country, that they 
come to deserve the name. Just so the 
genuine Christian regards the mere act of 
baptism as giving one but a poor title to 
the Christian name. Paul said that the man 
was not a Jew who was one outwardly ; that 
the mere rite of circumcision was nothing; 
that he was only a Jew who was one in- 
wardly; and that the genuine circumcision 
was of the heart, in the spirit and not in the 
letter. If Paul could say that about the 
Jewish Church, which was avowedly a ritual- 
istic organization, surely it is safe to say the 
same thing about the Christian Church, which 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 9 

differs from the Jewish Church mainly in 
caring less for things ceremonial, and more 
for things spiritual ; less for rites, and more 
for realities. 

The definition of the ritualist, then, will 
never do. It describes the form of Christian- 
ity, but does not touch its substance. To 
say that a Christian is a person who has 
been baptized, is much the same as to say 
that a scholar is one who has received a 
diploma, or that a hero is a man who wears 
a blue uniform. 

When the ritualist is done, up speaks the 
dogmatist. " To be a Christian," he says, 
"is to hold correct views of the plan of sal- 
vation. It is to have a realizing sense of the 
truth of certain sound doctrines concerning 
sin and the atonement." Faith, the dogma- 
tist argues, is the condition of salvation ; 
and faith, in his understanding of it, is a 
vivid perception of truth. 

But faith, in this sense of the word, makes 
nobody a Christian. The devils are dogma- 
tists. They also believe, after this fashion. 

3 



10 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 

They have a vivid perception of the truths 
against which they are all the while fighting. 
It is of great importance that we understand 
and believe the truth which relates to Christ 
and his kingdom ; but the most unhesitating 
assent of the intellect to the whole of Hodge's 
Theology, or to all of Watson's Institutes, 
will make no man a Christian. 

The sentimentalist also has his answer to 
our question. " To be a Christian," he says, 
" is to have certain delightful feelings of 
peace and joy and love. The impenitent 
person is one who feels that he is estranged 
from God : the Christian is one who feels 
that he is reconciled to God." 

But our feelings, as everybody knows, are 
uncertain and even delusive guides. It is a 
notorious fact, that men often mistake the 
complacency which waits on good digestion 
for peace of conscience, and the excitement 
aroused by a dramatic appeal for joy in the 
Holy- Ghost. Moreover, feeling is not the 
whole of life : when it serves its purpose, it 
is the glowing link which binds together 

4 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAK? 11 

thought and action. A feeling which origi- 
nates in no definite thought, and results in no 
definite action, is good for nothing. Emotion 
for its own sake is poor stuff. Yet this is 
what the sentimentalist looks for, and labors 
to secure. When he has produced in himself 
or in others certain pleasurable states of feel- 
ing, his work is accomplished. 

The ritualist, the dogmatist, and the sen- 
timentahst represent three distinct classes 
of persons in every Christian community. 
Many of them are good Christians in prac- 
tice, but their theories are unsound. Their 
lives are better than their ideas. It is only 
when they try to tell what it is to be a 
Christian, that they make mistakes ; and 
those who seek to become Christians need 
to be put on their guard against these mis- 
taken theories* 

To be a Christian is something more than 
to submit to certain rites, or to believe cer- 
tain doctrines, or to experience certain emo- 
tions. What is it, then ? 

To begin with, it seems clear that it must 



12 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN'? 

have something to do with Christ. " Chris- 
tian " means literally, pertaining or belong- 
ing to Christ. When the word is applied 
to a man, it can only describe his personal 
relation to Jesus Christ ; and it must mean 
that this relation is one of attachment and 
confidence. 

To be a Christian^ tJien^ is^ in the first place^ 
to believe on Jesus Christ. 

To believe on him, I say: not merely to 
believe in him, or to believe something about 
him, but to believe on him ; and this, if I 
understand the New Testament, means, to 
intrust your soul to him^ and to trust in him 
for wisdom and strength and salvation. 

Of course vou must believe in him, and 
must believe many things about him, in 
order to believe on him. If you think that 
no such person as Jesus Christ ever lived 
on the earth, and that the Gospels in which 
we read the story of his life and death are 
fabrications, you cannot believe on him. If 
vou have come to the conclusion that he 
did probably live in Judaea about nineteen 

6 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 13 

hundred years ago, and that he uttered 
many of the words recorded in the Gospels, 
but that he was only a man ; that, when he 
claimed to be more than a man, he was 
under a delusion ; and that the narrative of 
his miraculous works and of his resurrection 
from the dead are the productions either 
of fraud or of fancy, — then, of course, you 
cannot believe on him. You cannot commit 
your soul to a mortal like yourself, who 
lived and died in a far-off land many centu- 
ries ago. To believe on him, you must at 
least believe that he said, " All power is 
given unto me in heaven and on earth," and 
that he spoke the truth when he said it. 
To believe on him, you must be persuaded, 
with his apostle, "that he is able also to 
save to the uttermost all who come unto 
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make 
intercession for us." To believe on him, 
you must be convinced that he not only 
lived in Judaea in the days of Herod and 
Pilate, but that he lives to-day : that he not 
only knew Simon and John and Judas and 



14 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAlSr? 

Nieodemus, but that? lie knows you,' — knows 
all your history, knows your sins and your 
weaknesses, your regrets and your longings ; 
and that he is able not only to give you the 
help you want in trying to lead a better 
life, but to do for you exceeding abundantly 
above all that you ask or thinks 

There are those among us who do not 
believe so much as this about Christ. These 
words are not for them, I am sorry for 
their disbelief, and I do not admit that it 
is well founded ; but I have not time now 
to argue with them these questions of fact. 
It is to those who do believe in Christ, and 
who believe all these things about him, that 
I speak, because they are the only ones who 
have any immediate interest in knowing 
what it is to be a Christian^ 

Believing on Christ is fundamental in the 
Christian life. The word '^ Christian '^ is used 
only three times in the New Testament ; but 
the followers of Christ are often called be- 
lievers, or those who believe. And this 
believing was, as we discover from the read- 

8 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 15 

ing of the record, not a mere assent to the 
truths taught by Christ, nor a mere convic- 
tion that he was the Messiah, but a voluntary 
surrender of the heart and the life to his 
service, and an abiding trust in him as an 
ever-present Helper and Saviour. Faith, the 
New Testament most often calls it, and faith 
is the word which ought to describe it ; but 
unfortunately this word has been so misused 
by the theologians, that it is almost sure to 
mislead those who hear it spoken. " Trust " 
is perhaps a better word for us to use. The 
Christian is one who intrusts himself to 
Christ, by the surrender of his will to 
Christ's direction, and of his life to Christ's 
service ; and who trusts in Christ's power to 
keep him from sin, to sustain him in sorrow, 
and to strengthen him for faithful and noble 
living. 

In thus committing his soul, that is to say 

himself^ to Christ, the believer establishes 
between himself and the Saviour a very 
close relation. The union which is thus 
formed is like that which exists between any 

9 



16 "WHAT IS IT TO BE A GHEISTIAN? 

two earthly friends ; only Christ is so much 
wiser and stronger and more sympathizing 
than any human being can be, that we irmj 
come nearer to him than to any earthly 
friend, and confide in him more fully. The 
Christian comes at length to be identified 
with Christ in all his thoughts and wishes 
and purposes. The mind of Christ is his 
mind; the will of Christ is his will; the 
work of Christ is his work. At first he does 
not of course realize this so fully: he tries 
to trust and follow the Saviour, but his con- 
fidence often falters; this sense of oneness 
with Christ he does not always feel. The 
longer he serves his Master, however, the 
more complete this union with him becomes ; 
the whole progress of his Christian life is 
toward a thorough identification of himself 
with his Lord, until at length he is able to 
say with Paul, ^' To Kve is Christ." 

The man who thus believes on Christ will also 
be a disciple of Christ. The Christians of 
the early days were often called disciples. 
A disciple is a learner. Christ was a learner 

10 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHKISTIAN? 17 

while lie was on the earth ; and he who has 
the mind of Christ will surely have' a docile 
temper. . He will not imagine that he knows 
every thing; and to Christ, who is his teacher, 
he will constantly go for instruction in truth 
and in duty. The words that his Master 
spoke are written in the New Testament, and 
he will search those parables and conversa- 
tions for hidden treasures of wisdom. Christ's 
word is law to him ; when the Lord speal^s, 
there is no more controversy. 

And not only in the words of Christ does 
he find instruction, but in his acts as well. 
The Saviour's deeds were sermons not less 
than his words. The parables are miracles 
of speech, and the miracles are parables in 
act. By the Word of God all things were 
made ; and the Word that works in multiply- 
ing the loaves, and in healing the lepers, is 
one with the Word that speaks from the 
Mount of the Beatitudes. 

And not only in the record of the Saviour's 

life does the disciple look for the truth that 

he needs to know. Christ promised, when he 

11 



18 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 

went away, that he would come again as the 
Spirit of Truth, and abide with his disciples, 
communicating directly to them enlighten- 
ment and wisdom. The Christian holds lov- 
ing intercourse every day with the Spirit of 
the Lord. If there are questions of duty 
that he cannot solve, he asks for light, and is 
often sure that he receives it. He remem- 
bers that obedience is the condition of knowl- 
edge ; that only those are certain to know of 
the doctrine, who are prompt to do the Mas- 
ter's will ; and therefore he is careful always 
to be walking in the way of duty when he 
asks for light. ' But obedience is the only 
condition ; and when it is supplied he knows 
that the divine Teacher is ready to impart to 
every trusting disciple the wisdom that is 
profitable to direct him, and the truth that 
will make him free. 

The man who believes on Christ will also he 
a follower of Christ, He will not only be 
joined to Christ by a personal trust that 
identifies him with his Master ; he will not 
only sit at the Saviour's feet as his disciple, 

12 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 19 

and learn of him what is truth and what is 
duty : he will also arise, and follow Christ as 
his leader in the ways of fidelity and of 
sacrifice. He is not content with feelino: as 
Christ felt, and with thinking as Christ 
thought : he wishes also to live as Christ 
lived. This, indeed, is the grand result of 
his belief and his discipleship. He trusts in 
Christ, and learns of him, in order that he 
may be able to follow him. It is not merely 
in view of death or of what comes after 
death, that he betakes himself to the Sav- 
iour : it is in view of life, of its duties, its 
hardships, its temptations. The man who is 
a Christian merely that he may die securely 
and happily is a poor sort of Christian. He 
does not know the meaning of trust or of 
discipleship. 

There are two paths in which the Christian 
follows Christ in this world, — paths which 
are always parallel, and which often merge 
into one, — the path of integrity, and the 
path of benevolence. In doing right and in 
doing good the Christian is a follower of 
Christ. ' 13 



20 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHKISTIAN? 

The righteousness of Christ is to the 
Christian not merely a shelter behind which 
he hides: it is an example which he imitates, 
and a living principle which by faith he 
makes his own. His own conscience tells 
him of a perfect truth, a perfect purity, a 
perfect goodness, which he ought to possess. 
He knows that these virtues are the most 
excellent possessions on earth, and he desires 
them above all things. In Christ he sees 
them incarnated and exemplified ; and he 
therefore desires to " follow in His steps who 
did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
mouth.'' 

The fact that Christianity means morality, 
aims at that, leads to that, results in that, is 
a fact of which scarcely enough account has 
been made, and which needs, especially in 
these days, to be made emphatic in any 
account of what Christianity is. Every one 
who thinks of becoming a Christian ought to 
understand at the outset, that being a Chris- 
tian means telling the truth, dealing honestly 

in trade ^ governing the temper, sealing the 
14 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAK? 21 

lips against slander, keeping the mind free 
from evil thoughts and the life from Unclean 
deeds ; that he who has in him the good 
hope of salvation through Christ purifies 
himself even as Christ is pure. His name is 
called Jesus because he saves his people from 
their sins. He is not a Saviour to any man 
whom he does not save from sin. Any man 
who thinks he is a Christian, and who yet 
does wrong deliberately and persistently, 
deceives himself. He is not a Christian. 
The Christian may be overtaken in a fault ; 
but when his fault is made plain to him he 
will repent of it and forsake it, making what 
reparation is in his power. But one who 
knowingly chooses to walk in the ways of 
sin, and who either brazenly justifies his 
iniquity, or falsely seeks to conceal it, has no 
reason to think that he is a Christian at all. 

The man who goes to the bank, and tells 
the cashier that his assets are twenty thousand 
dollars when he knows that they are not 
really five thousand, and that his liabilities 
are five thousand dollars when he knows that 

15 



22 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 

they are twenty thousand, and who gets a 
note discounted there on the strength of the 
statement, and goes off with the money, and 
presently fails, paying twenty-five cents on 
the dollar, and never afterward repenting of 
his sin, or trying to restore the money of 
which he has plundered the bank, is not a 
Christian. No man w^ho walks in that 
crooked road can be said to be a follower of 
Christ. 

The man who contracts to build a house 
for you of sound and well-seasoned material, 
in a workmanlike manner, and then slips in 
timbers that he knows will shrink, and crack 
your walls ; and water-pipes that he knows 
will burst, and flood your ceilings, — the man 
who habitually practises dishonesty of this 
sort is not a Christian. The man who sells 
you food, with the understanding that it is 
pure, when he knows it to be adulterated, 
who makes this the method of his business, 
is not a Christian. The woman who is 
addicted to putting in circulation or keeping 
in circulation evil tales which she does not 

16 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHIIISTIA:N" ? 23 

know to be true is not a Christian. Bearing 
false witness against your neighbors is not 
following Christ. 

I do not mean that no one is a Christian 
who ever commits sins of this nature ; the 
best Christians, I repeat, are sometimes led 
into temptation : but in sitting at Christ's 
feet, and learning of him, they are sure to be 
convinced of their sins, and then they make 
haste to repent of them, and forsake them. 
The deliberate and habitual practice of any 
form of dishonesty or immorality is impossi- 
ble to one who follows Christ. 

But the Christian is not satisfied with 
merely keeping to the right, with giving 
to all their just dues. Christ went a great 
deal further than that, and so must the man 
who follows him. If the Lord from heaven 
had been content with giving to all of us 
our just dues, it would not have been so 
well with us as it is to-day. He not only 
does justly : he loves mercy ; and so shall 
we if we learn of him and follow him. 

To do good to all men as we have oppor- 

17 



24 WHAT IS IT TO BE A OHBISTIAK? 

tunity; to da good to those wlio have no 
claim upon us but the claim of human 
brotherhood; to show kindness to the un- 
thankful and the evil, — this is part of what 
is meant by following Jesus Christ. He 
went about doing good ; and those who fol- 
low him must walk in the same ways of 
beneficence. Mrs. Barbauld's hymn tells us 
how the Christian feels and acts in the midst 
of the sorrow and suffering that fill the 
world : — 



ii. 



Blest is the man whose softening heart 

Feels all another's pain; 
To whom the supplicating eye 

Was never raised in vain ; 



♦* Whose breast expands with generous warmth, 
A stranger's woes to feel, 
And bleeds in pity o'er the wound 
He wants the power to heaL 

*' To gentle offices of love 

His feet are never slow: 
He views, through mercy's melting eye, 

A brother in a foe.'* 
18 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHEISTIAN ? 25 

This bountiful and self-denying charity is 
one of the cardinal elements in the genuine 
Christian life ; and the man who does not 
possess it and practise it has no reason to 
call himself a Christian. No matter how 
honest he may be r if he lives all for himself ; 
if, with ability to help and comfort and bless 
his feUow-men, he does nothing or next to 
nothing for their welfare, and does what he 
does surlily and grudgingly, finding no pleas- 
ure in ministering to the woes and brighten- 
ing the lives of his fellow-men, — that mind 
cannot be in him that was in Christ Jesus, 
nor can he be said to be in any true sense a 
follower of the Man of Nazareth. 

I have been thus explicit in showing you 
what is involved in following Christ, because 
it is important that all who enter upon the 
Christian life do so understandingly. It 
ought to be clear, that the Christian life is 
the life of Christ, copied just as fairly as we 
are able to copy it ; that it means always 
integrity and benevolence ; and that they 
who are not made upright and generous by 
theii* religion are not Christians at all. ^^ 



26 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 

These words are spoken in the hope that 
they will reach the ears of some who, with 
the full knowledge of what is involved in 
following Christ, will want to follow him ; 
will want to follow him just because the 
paths in which he leads his disciples are the 
paths of integritj^ and benevolence. They 
are spoken with the earnest expectation that 
some one who hears them will say, " That is 
just what I want to be. I want to be up- 
right and pure and good, I want to cease 
to do evil, and to learn to do well. There is 
no comfort in doing wrong. I have tried it, 
and I know. Every time I am guilty of 
deceit or impurity or gluttony, of any kind 
of animalism or devilism, I feel degraded in 
my own eyes. I know, too, that all that is 
good within me is weakened by every such 
act of sin, and that if I keep on in this way 
I shall be helpless by and by, even to choose 
the better life. Moreover I know that there 
is happiness in doing right and in doing 
good ; for I have found the most perfect 
enjoyment that I ever have known in'walk- 

20 



WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 27 

ing in those ways. I want to keep in them 
henceforth and always. I know that they 
are the only right paths for men to walk in ; 
and, since they are the paths into which 
Christ leads his own, I want to follow him. 
To stand erect in the right road, and go on 
in it to the end of life ; to do that which is 
right in the sight of God ; to live blamelessly 
and beneficently, conquering sin, and crown- 
ing the lives of my fellows with loving kind- 
ness, — this is reward enough in itself. I ask 
no more. I should be ashamed of myself 
if there was not in this thought the very 
highest motive to the Christian life. But 
one who knows tells me that Christ is able 
not only to keep me from falling here, but to 
present me faultless before the presence of 
his Father with exceeding joy. What that 
reward may be, I dare not stop to think now ; 
but, if I follow on to know the Lord, I shall 
find out in his good time." 

Believing on Christ, learning of Christ, 
following Christ, — this is what it is to be a 
Christian. You must believe on him that 

21 



28 WHAT IS IT TO BE A CHRISTIAN? 

you may learn of him; you must learn of 
him that you may follow him. But believ- 
ing is nothing, and learning is less than 
nothing, if they do not result in faithful 
following. 

22 




II. 



M\)^ sijoultj 31 be a Cfrristtan? 



\ 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 



nnHAT is a question which I am almost 
"^ ashamed to spend any breath in an- 
swering. To one who lives in a Christian 
land, and who knows, either by travel or 
reading, any thing of the lands that are not 
Christian, there would seem to be no need 
of stating the reasons for being a Christian. 
But, unfortunately, many of those who have 
been breathing the air of our religion and 
subsisting upon its benefits all their lives, 
have become so utterly sophisticated in their 
notions about it, that it is necessary to stop 
and argue with them concerning its value 
as a personal possession. 

Certain reasons for beginning the Chris- 
tian life readily suggest themselves to those 
who are in the habit of going to church. 

1 31 



32 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 

One is, that there are terrible retributions 
for sin in the world to come, and that 
believing on Christ is the only way of 
escaping from them. Another is, that there 
is infinite blessedness in the world to come, 
and that believing on Christ is the only way 
of gaining it. Still another reason often 
urged is this : that we shall be happier in 
this world if we are engaged in Christ's 
service. " You had better become a Chris- 
tian if you want to enjoy yourself. I never 
knew what happiness was till I experienced 
religion." How often we hear this counsel 
and testimony in the prayer-meetings ! Liv- 
ing a Christian life is by some persons 
always called " enjoying religion." Heaven 
is to them pre-eminently " a land of pure 
delight " (if the hymn read '^ mere de- 
light," it would express their view about as 
clearly) ; and the life that leads to heaven 
gives some foretaste of the immortal joy. 

*< The hill of Zion yields 

A thousand sacred sweets 
Before we reach the heavenly fields, 
Or walk the golden streets.'' 2 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 33 

The promise of entering into this joy, on 
earth as well as in heaven, is, with some 
persons, the strongest reason for beginning 
the Christian life. 

These three motives — the fear of hell, 
the desire of enjoyment in this life, and the 
hope of blessedness in the life to come — are 
often urged upon you ; and I have no wish 
to ignore them or to belittle them. That 
sin does entail everlasting woe upon those 
who continue in it, is a truth of which I 
have no doubt. That Christ does deliver 
those who trust in him, from eternal suffer- 
ing, I fully believe. That they who follow 
Christ will not only reach at length a land 
of pure delight, but that they will find 
enjoyment all along the way, I am very 
sure. I do not dwell upon these considera- 
tions, because you are already familiar with 
them, and because there are other motives 
higher and deeper and mightier than these, 
which are not so often urged, and upon 
which the emphasis of our exhortations 
ought always to be put. 



§4 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHBISTIAN? 

But you may wonder whether it is pos- 
sible that any higher or worthier motives 
could be presented to your minds, when we 
urge you to accept of salvation through 
Christ. '' Can there be a worse evil," you 
ask, " than an eternity of suffering ? Can 
there be a greater good than an eternity of 

joy?" 

To all of which I answer, Yes: there is 
a worse evil than eternal suffering ; there 
is a greater good than eternal enjoyment. 
A million years of suffering is less to . be 
dreaded than one year of sinning. An eter- 
nity of enjoyment is less to be craved than 
a mortal lifetime of purity and holiness. 
Not suffering, but sin, is the primal evil in 
this universe. Suffering is the consequence 
of sin; but the cause is worse than the 
consequence. Suffering may be honorable : 
sin can never be otherwise than shameful 
and detestable. 

Not enjoyment, but rectitude, is the chief 
good, both in this life and in the life which 
is to come. Enjoyment flows from recti- 

4 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAlsr? 35 

tude ; "but the fountain is higher and purer 
than the stream. Enjoyment is often an 
end unworthy to be sought. Rectitude is 
always to be desired above all things. 

The reason for being a Christian which 
ought, then, to have the most weight with 
every human being, is this : that Christ 
promises to help those who trust in him 
and follow him, in overcoming sin, and in 
winning virtue. That, indeed, is the very 
thing that he came into this world to do. 
Many of the consequences of sin we must 
suffer so long as we remain in this world ; 
but from sin itself he is ready to make us 
free if we will only believe on him. If 
deliverance from suffering had been the main 
reason of his coming, he would have pro- 
vided a way of escape from that in this 
life, instead of which he often employs the 
discipline of suffering as a means of purifj^- 
ing us from sin ; exactly reversing our own 
inclination, which leads us to commit sin in 
order to relieve ourselves from suffering. 
Does not this show us which of these evils 
he regards as the greater ? 6 



36 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 

While, therefore, it is my duty to tell you 
that sin and pain always go together, that 
endless sin means endless misery, and that 
the way of holiness is the way of happiness ; 
it is also my business to show you — and I 
know that your consciences are on my side 
when I say it — that, if sin brought no pain 
with it, it ought above all things to be 
hated ; that, if holiness brought no happiness 
with it, it ought before all things to be 
craved. 

Is it not so? Think of the evil with 
which your own life is infested. Your sins 
are not all alike : some of you are beset and 
crippled by one form of wrong-doing, and 
some by another ; but the long catalogue of 
evil practices contains more than one kind 
of iniquity to which you will sorrowfully 
confess that you are more or less addicted. 

Perhaps you are the bond-slave of 
appetite, and your spirit is often dragged 
in the mire of sensual indulgence, and 
soiled almost beyond hope of cleansing. 
And, when you think of these excesses into 

6 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAK? 37 

which your bodily cravings have sometimes 
led you, are you not filled with a nameless 
horror, a deep and bitter shame ? Saying 
nothing about the punishment threatened 
against those who defile their bodies that 
were made to be temples of the living God, 
is not the sin that merits the punishment 
something unspeakably heinous ? And it is 
you who ought to be wearing the white 
robes of purity and honor ; you who are not 
a brother of the beasts, but one of the ^ons 
of God; you who have all your life been 
instructed in purity and temperance, and 
pointed to the shining way In which God 
leads his own, — it is you who are suffering 
yourself to be debauched and corrupted by 
these swinish indulgences. Is it not a 
horrible offence, a dreadful degradation ? 

It may be that your worst fault is an evil 
temper. You are terribly passionate. On 
slight provocation, the baleful fires of anger 
light up your cheeks, md flash out of your 
eyes. When the fit is on you, you are sure 
to say and do unjust and injurious things ; 

7 



38 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 

things which you cannot defend in your 
cooler moments, but which you are yet too 
proud to confess. Or, it may be that your 
temper is sullen rather than fiery, and that 
you often wrong yourself, and inflict great 
discomfort upon others, by carrying a surly 
brow and a moody manner into places where 
you ought to be buoyant or cheerful. Or, it 
may be that you are a born tyrant, and that 
you are inclined to make your will the 
law of the little realm of which you are the 
ruler, driving ruthlessly over the rights and 
the preferences of your subjects. It is a 
mean passion, this lust of power; and it 
makes any man feel mean who indulges it. 

It may be that envy or jealousy — twin 
demons — are the evil spirits to which your 
breast often affords a shelter. Like that 
truculent monarch, King Saul, who '^ eyed 
David " because the people applauded his 
courage, who hated him because good men 
loved him, who wanted to kill him because 
he behaved himself wisely and prospered in 
his wise behavior, you often find yourself 

8 



WHY SHOULD* I BE A CHRISTIAN? 39 

cherishing grudges against your neighbors 
because they are more successful or more 
popular than you are. For their pros- 
perity or their good fortune you bear them a 
secret ill-will. If King Saul ever had a sane 
moment, he must have despised himself for 
giving way to this detestable spirit. And so 
do you, I think, when you are conscious of 
having harbored the same devil in your own 
heart. 

Or, perhaps you have been guilty of injus- 
tice in your dealings with your neighbors. 
The cursed greed of gain has led you to 
outwit and insnare them, to overreach them 
in bargaining, to trample on their rights, and 
defraud them of their possessions. You 
have spoiled the innocent and the unwary, 
you have heaped up your own fortunes on 
the ruins of other men's estates; you have 
stolen the hearthstones of the poor to build 
the walls of your own houses. You think 
sometimes of the injustice and treachery of 
which you have been guilty ; and, while you 
cannot bring yourself to disgorge your gains. 



40 WHY SHOULD I BE ^ CHRISTIAN? 

you cannot help hating yourself for the 
practice of the bad arts by which you have 
gotten them. 

Or, it may be that you have a habit of 
untruth. Cowardice, or avarice, or love of 
applause, often leads you to say the thing 
that is not. You reflect upon these sayings 
afterward ; and when conscience rises up 
and says, " That was a lie : you are a liar," 
your heart sinks and your flesh creeps in the 
presence of the dread accuser. Oh, it is a 
horrible thing to lie, to break the fair bond 
of confidence by which society is held to- 
gether, to turn the very light that is in you 
into darkness ! 

And, what is worse, these sins of unchas- 
tity, of intemperance, of gluttony, of evil 
temper, of tyranny, of envy and jealousy, of 
injustice and extortion, of falsehood and dis- 
honor, or whatever else your besetting faults 
may be, are sins which you commit delib- 
erately and persistently. ,More than once 
you have yielded to these temptations. 
Against the protest of your Qonseiences, 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN'? 41 

against the warnings of God's law, against 
the pleadings of his Spirit, you persevere in 
these sinful practices. You know that you 
are walking in the broad road, yet you keep 
right on in it. These sins come to have a 
horrible fascination over you. Dreadful as 
they are, you do not shake them off. Their 
toils are bound more and more firmly round 
you every day ; you yield to them with less 
and less compunction; you find yourself 
drawu down lower and lower by the gravita- 
tion of iniquity. 

Oh, is it not a horrible life to live, — a 
miserable condition to be in? From this 
bondage of corruption, from this body of 
death, do you not long to be free ? If you 
do not, if falseness and selfishness and beast- 
liness have no horrors for you, if you do 
not feel that these are in themselves more to 
be dreaded, more to be shunned, than any 
amount of suffering could be, then hell is 
the proper place for you, and I see no way 
in which you can be kept from going there. 
Nay, I am not sure that you are not already 

n 



42 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHEISTIAI^? 

there ; for when a man has learned to say, 
"EyH, be thou my good;" when he has so 
perverted the nature which God gave him, 
that he finds his meat in that which ought 
to be his bane, — then the kingdom of hell is 
set up in his heart. The nearer any one 
comes to that condition, the nearer he is to 
the abodes of everlasting woe. 

But I will not believe that any of you 
have reached this lower deep of moral degra- 
dation. I believe that all of you feel the 
terror and the misery of sin, and desire to be 
freed from it. With some of you this feeling 
is more, intense than with others, but there 
are few who do not share it. And every one 
who Iniows what this feeling is can perfectly 
understand the one grand reason for being a 
Christian. For it is to this very feeling that 
Christ addresses his gospel. To all who 
labor in these toils of sin, and cannot escape 
from them ; to all who are heavy laden with 
iniquity, and are sinking under the load, — 
he comes offering deliverance and salvation. 
^' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 

12 



WHY SHOULB I BE A CHBISTIAK? 43 

just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness.^^ Not only to wipe 
off the old score, but to purge the heart from 
the evil desires out of which our trans- 
gressions flow. " And ye know," urges the 
beloved disciple, " that he was manifested to 
take away our sins ; and in him is no sin," 
It is just what the blessed angel told his 
mother : his name foreshadows his work ; he 
is called Jesus, Saviour, because he saves his 
people from their sins, '^ For the grace of 
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared 
to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodli- 
ness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
righteously, and godly in this present world ; 
looking for that blessed hope and the glori- 
ous appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us 
that he might purify unto himself a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works," 

Can any better news than that be told to 
any man who knows what an accursed thing 
sin is ? Can any better hope be implanted in, 
any human heart than the hope of triumph 

13 



44 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHEISTIAN? 

over the inbred evil ? Is it possible to offer 
any stronger reason why men should intrust 
themselves to Jesus Christ, and begin to 
follow him, than this : '' Jesus Christ is able 
and willing to deliver you from your sins " ? 

To be clean and pure ; to have the body in 
perfect subjection, so that no clamorous appe- 
tite should ever drown the voice of reason ; 
to be able to keep the temper in perfect 
equipoise, so that no blasts of passion and no 
clouds of sullenness should ever disturb the 
mind's clear sky ; to be generous and charita- 
ble always, hoping all things, believing all 
things, enduring all things; to be upright 
and honorable ; to be true in speech and true 
in act ; to be without fear and without re- 
proach, with a conscience void of offence 
before God and men, — oh, what a hope ! 
what a promise ! what a destiny ! But this 
is the goal toward which Jesus Christ is 
leading all those who follow him. Alas, that 
so many should be content to follow him as 
Peter did, a great way off ! 

Of some such particular sins and faults as 

14 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 45 

I have mentioned, every man's conscience 
reproves him. But are not these sins and 
faults symptoms of an organic disease, for 
which a constitutional remedy is needed? 
Is not your bottom trouble, my friend, your 
estrangement from God? Is not this the 
reason of all your sins ? You will deny that 
you hate him; but do you not sometimes 
find yourself distrusting him, shrinking away 
from him, banishing from your minds the 
thought of him? Your sins have separated 
between you and your God, and your separa- 
tion from God has plunged you into sin. 
There is a terrible reaction here, under which 
every unbelieving soul is driven further and 
further from goodrtess and from God. And 
sometimes, when you are not thinking of any 
particular sins, the sense of this unfriendliness 
toward God, the consciousness of your own 
unfilial feeling, distresses you beyond meas- 
ure. This, more than any tiling else, is the 
cause of that strange unrest which often 
troubles you. You never can be quite at 
peace with yourself, my friend, until you are 

15 



46 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHEISTIAN ? 

at peace with God. And one reason for being 
a Christian is found in the fact that God in 
Christ was and is reconciling men unto him- 
self. They who commit their souls to him 
are made partakers of his peace. To them 
who are in Christ Jesus there is no condem- 
nation, and there ought to be no feeling of 
condemnation : they are able to say " Abba 
Father," and to draw near to God with confi- 
dence in his forgiving grace. 

What I have said already implies that 
Christ not only offers us the negative good 
of salvation from sin, but also the positive 
good of the enlargement and re-enforcement 
of our whole nature. "He that hath the 
Son hath life," new life, fuller life, fresher 
and stronger life. " I am come that ye might 
have life, and that ye might have it more 
abundantly." That is his own testimony. 
" As many as received him, to them gave he 
power to hecome the sons of Grod.^^ There is 
no other gift like that. There is no culture 
that can confer upon a man power like that. 
In delivering us from the bondage of • cor- 

16 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAlSr? 47 

ruption he leads us fortli into the glorious 
liberty of the sons of God. 

The personal friendship of Jesus Christ is 
in itself a strong reason for being a Christian. 
Suppose that some great and good man, the 
greatest and the best that you can think of, 
should offer you the freedom of his house, 
and kindly urge you to count yourself among 
his chosen friends, and to spend as much of 
your time as you could with him; if you 
knew that the offer was sincere, and that 
your acceptance of it would really give him 
pleasure, would you hesitate long in making 
known to him your gratitude for the favor, 
and your purpose to avail yourself as often as 
possible of his hospitality, and his friendly 
offices? Is not the friendship of Christ 
worth more to you than the friendship of any 
man could be ? Is there not more of stimu- 
lus, more of strength, to be gained by com- 
munion with him, than any mortal could give 
you? And is there not in the promise of 
knowing him who said to his disciples, 
" Henceforth I call you not servants, but 

17 . 



48 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHEISTIAN? 

friends," one strong reason for entering upon 
the Christian life ? 

We are often in perplexity and doubt ; and 
Christ gives, to those who trust him, wisdom 
for their daily choices. He is the Light that 
lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. 

We are often in trouble; and he is the 
Comforter who comes to bind up our broken 
hearts, and wipe away our tears. No sym- 
pathy is so deep as his, no comfort so sweet, 
no support so strong. Are there not reasons 
here that approve themselves to your experi- 
ence"? 

There is another consideration which 
ought, it seems to me, to have weight with 
some of you. That is the fact that the life 
to which Christ leads those who follow him 
is not only a life of purity and integrity, but 
also a life of heroic service, of self-denying 
love. It is the very noblest life of which it 
is possible for man to conceive. He who 
pleased not himself, but freely gave himself 
for all ; he who lived to lighten the burdens 

18 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 49 

and soothe the sorrows of men, — is a Master 
whom any man might be glad and proud to 
serve. If your souls do not kindle with 
ardor at the thought of following Him who 
went about doing good, and sharing the joy 
that was set before him when he entered 
upon his life of sacrifice, I am sorry for you. 
I can speak of but one reason more why 
you should be a Christian ; and that is the 
reason of personal gratitude. Surely Christ 
has done something for you. You may not be 
entirely clear what it is ; but you know that 
you have been all your life a sharer in the 
blessings that he brought from heaven. You 
know that the whole world is a different 
world to live in to-day from what it would 
have been if Christ had not lived and died. 
You know that your relations to God, your 
thoughts of God, your opportunities of 
knowledge and of joy in this life and in the 
life to come, have been greatly changed by 
Christ's suffering love. You know that there 
is no other being in the universe, to whom 
you owe so much. Is there not in this fact 

19 



50 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHBISTIAN? 

a reasQii why you should love him and serve 
him ? So thought that noble Catholic mis- 
sionary, Francis Xavier, whose hymn you 
ought to know : — 

** I love thee, O my God! but not 

For what I hope thereby; 
Nor yet because who love thee not 

Must die eternally. 
I love thee, O my God ! and still 

I ever will love thee. 
Solely because my God thou art, 

Who first hast lovfed me. 

'* For me to lowest depths of woe 

Thou didst thyself abase ; 
For me didst bear the cross, the shame, 

And manifold disgrace; 
For me didst suffer pains unknown, 

Blood sweat and agony. 
Yea, death itself, — all, all for me. 

For me, thine enemy. 

*' Then, shall I not, O Saviour mine! 
Shall I not love thee well ? 
Not with the hope of winning heaven, 
Nor of escaping hell; 
20 



WHY SHOULD I BE A CHRISTIAN? 51 

"Not with tlie hope of earning aught, 

Not seeking a reward: 
But freely, freely as thyself 

Hast lovM me, O Lord! " 

Need I mention any more reasons wliy you 
ought to be a Chiistian? Let us go back 
over the way by whicli we have come, and 
mark the steps that have brought us 
hither : — 

Christ is the Redeemer of the world ; it is 
to his love that we owe our lives, and all 
our blessings. 

He is the Friend on whose arm we may 
lean in every time of trouble. 

He is the Guide whose unfailing wisdom 
will serve us in moments when the ways are 
dark. 

He is the Source and Inspiration of all 
worthy and beautiful life. 

He is the Reconciler, who brings us near 
to God. 

He is the Saviour from sin. 

The sin from which he saves us is prepar- 
ing our eternal ruin; and the life to which 

21 



52 WHY SHOULD I BE A CHBISTIAN ? 

he leads us is crowned with everlasting 

joy. 

Are there not reasons enough, and strong 
enough, why you should be a Christian ? 

Now tell me one good reason why you are 
not a Christian. 

You know that there is not one. 

22 




\ 



III. 



Jloijj sfjall 1 httomt a CTfjrfsttan ? 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 



/~\NE wlio knows what it is to be a Chris- 
^-^ tian may be supposed to know what 
he must do to become a Christian. Becom- 
ing is only beginning to be. Nothing can be 
plainer than that; yet no subject was ever 
more befogged. Almost everybody has an 
impression that one who wishes to become 
a Christian must go through some elaborate 
and mysterious mental process. 

For this confusion, our controversial the- 
ology is largely to blame. There has been 
so much dispute about the plan of salvation, 
and the terms of salvation, that many per- 
sons have been greatly troubled to know 
just what salvation is, and how it is to be 
obtained. To them, it seems to be a bewil- 

1 55 



56 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHBISTIAN? 

dering maze of unintelligible and even con- 
tradictory theories. There appear to be a 
great many steps to take, and there is often 
a degree of uncertainty as to which step 
should be taken first. " Must repentance 
precede faith, or faith repentance ? Should 
I pray before I repent and believe, or must 
I repent and believe before I can pray?'* 
How often such questions as these are heard ! 
Here, for example, is a letter I have just 
received through the post-office : — 

" Do you think the Lord ever answers 
the prayers of a sinner? Please tell us 
what you think about it some evening, and 
oblige An Ii^QUiRER." 

Now, that is the question of an honest 
mind, I make no doubt; and the answer to 
it may dispel a little of the fog which hangs 
about the entrance to the Christian life. 
Certainly, my unknown friend, the Lord 
does answer the prayers of sinners. If he 
did not, there would be small hope for me* 

2 . 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHEISTIAK? 67 

Every person who commits sin is a sinner ; 
and I never yet knew any person who did 
not commit sin. If God did not answer the 
prayers of sinners, he would answer no 
prayers at all. You want to know, then, 
what is meant by that verse in the Bible 
which says, " The prayer of the wicked is 
an abomination to the Lord." That verse 
is not in the Bible. It is one of the Devil's 
quotations. Here is what you are trying 
to remember, and you will see that you 
have remembered it very imperfectly : — 
" He that turneth away his ear from hear- 
ing the law, even his prayer shall be an 
abomination." One who wilfully refuses to 
obey God will not be answered when he 
prays. One who deliberately continues in 
the practice of any sin mocks God when 
he prays. But the sincere soul that is con- 
scious of sin, and desires to be free from it, 
is the very one whose prayer the Lord hears 
soonest, and answers first. 

But possibly your question means, " Does 
the Lord answer the prayers of one who is 

3 



58 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHEISTIAK? 

not a Christian ? " Surely lie does ; else 
how could the unconverted person become 
a Christian ? It is in answer to the prayer 
for pardon and help that the grace of God 
is given, by which the Christian life is 
begun. Did you ever read the parable of 
the lost sheep? Does it not tell you 
that the Son of man is come to seek and 
save them that are lost? And, if he seeks 
them when they are straying, is it not 
likely that he will answer their call when 
they seek him ? He makes his sun to shine 
upon the evil and the good, and sends his 
rain upon the just and the unjust. Is it 
likely that one who bestows his temporal 
mercies upon sinners as freely as upon saints 
would bestow the better gifts of his grace 
only upon saints, and refuse them to sinners 
even when they ask for them? No, my 
friend : God always gives most readily to 
those who are in the greatest need. That 
is his nature. No creature in the universe 
needs his grace so much as the sinner ; and, 
though he never forces his love upon those 

4 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 59 

who do not want it, the moment that any- 
earnest heart sends up to him a cry for help 
in overcoming sin, that moment his help 
comes down, quicker than the sunlight leaps 
from the sky to fill the cup of the modest 
flower that lifts itself up toward heayen. 

Do but consider, my friend. Suppose 
that some poor creature who had hitherto 
been living a wretched life should come to 
me, and say, ''Help me! I want to break 
off my bad habits ; I want to lead a purer 
life ; I want to find better associates and 
better employment, I want to be a Chris- 
tian if I can." Do you suppose that I 
would turn away from him, saying, " No : 
you don't belong to my church ; you have 
no claim upon me; I can do nothing for 
you " ? Don't you think it a good deal more 
likely that I would make him understand 
very quickly, that the work of helping men 
in his condition is the very work above all 
others that I want to do, the very work 
which this church of Christ that I serve is 
organized to do ? Could any minister of the 

5 



60 HOW SHALLr I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 

gospel of Christ reply in any other way ? 
And do you not think that Christ himself is 
at least as good as any of his mmisters, as 
ready to hear and answer prayer ? 

It is yery important at the outset, that we 
get rid of this strange confusion about the 
prayers of sinners. There is more joy in 
heaven over one sinner that repenteth than 
over ninety and nine just persons who need 
no repentance. It was the publican, and not 
the Pharisee, who went down to his house 
justified. 

The impression prevails, that the inquirer 
must pass through some remarkable transi- 
tional experience before he can pray aright, 
and before any of his acts will be acceptable 
to God. Going through that transitional 
experience is what he calls becoming a Chris- 
tian. He does not know what it is, but he 
has some sort of vague notion about how he 
shall feel when he is going through it ; and, 
until he feels in that way, he will not believe 
that he is a Christian. As nearly as I can 
find out when I talk with these persons, they 

6 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 61 

suppose, that, in passing from the state of sin 
to the state of holiness, they will be as help- 
less and as ignorant as the poor little kitten 
that is put into a basket or a bag, and carried 
from one town to anqther; and that they 
will feel very much as the kitten feels when 
it is released in its new home, and looks 
about in a dazed way upon scenes which it 
never saw before. Until this mysterious pas- 
sage is made, no act which properly belongs 
to the Christian life can without presumption 
be performed by them. 

No delusion could be worse than this. 
Becoming a Christian is just beginning to be 
a Christian ; nothing more, nothing less. You 
become a student by beginning to study: 
there is no other way. You become an artist 
by beginning to draw or to carve. You 
become a machinist by going into a machine- 
shop, and beginning to work at the trade of a 
machinist. And you become a Christian by 
choosing the Christian life, and beginning 
immediately to do the duties which belong to 
it. 



62 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHEISTIAN? 

What it is to be a Christian, we have seen 
already. It is to believe on Christ, to learn 
of him, and to follow him. To become a 
Christian is simply to begin doing these things. 

It is to commit yourself to his care, and to 
consecrate yourself to his service at once and 
forever. 

It is to ask him to show you what is truth, 
and what is duty. 

It is to walk right on, then, in the light 
that he gives you, following his example and 
keeping his commandmentSi^ 

If any thing more than this is included in 
becoming a Christian, I do not know what it 
is. 

There is no ordeal to pass through ; there 
is no mysterious process of initiation ; there 
is no oracle to visit, nd labyrinth to thread, no 
arcanum to discover : all you have to do is to 
" commit the keeping of your soul to Him in well 
doing^'' and, seeking his guidance, to follow 
on in the way he leads. 

Read the New Testament, and learn how 
men became Christians in the days of Christ. 

8 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CnT.ISTIAN ? 63 

" And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Gali- 
lee, saw two bretliren, Simon called Peter, 
and Andrew his brother, casting a net into 
the sea ; for they were fishers. And he saith 
unto them. Follow me, and I will make you 
fishers of men. And they straightway left 
their nets, and followed him. And going on 
from thence he saw two other brethren, 
James the son of Zebedee, and John his 
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, 
mending their nets ; and he called them. 
And they immediately left the ship and their 
father and followed him," At another time 
" Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at 
the receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, 
Follow me. And he arose and followed 
him," 

Here is no elaborate and toilsome process. 
It is the simplest thing in the world. The 
Master calls; the disciple follows. That is 
the beginning and the end of it. 

But some will say, '' These men were not 
converted at this time ; for the Holy Spirit 
that regenerates the heart was not yet given. 

9 



64 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 

They were not converted until the day of 
Pentecost." Oh, absurd deduction of a ma- 
chine-made theology ! As if any man who 
surrenders himself to Christ as his Leader 
and his Lord were not in that act converted ! 
How can any man call Jesus Lord but by the 
Holy Ghost ? What a preposterous notion it 
is, that these disciples who gave their lives to 
the Saviour, who took his yoke upon them, 
and learned of him, who followed him 
whithersoever he went, and faithfully obeyed 
his orders, were not Christians ! I - only 
wish that all the members of our churches 
nowadays were just such Christians. If 
every one of you would set about becoming 
Christians in the same way, the number of 
the disciples would multiply very fast. 
Trust me, my friends, when you take Christ 
for your Master and Lord, when your life is 
knit with his by a living faith, the power 
that cleanses the heart and sanctifies the 
soul is not very far from you. 

" But what about repentance ? " somebody 
is asking. "Nothing has been said about 

10 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 65 

repentance. Is not that one of the things 
to be done in becoming a Christian ? " , Cer- 
tainly ; and the things you have been told 
to do involve repentance. To repent is to 
forsake sin ; and that is just what the man 
does who sets out to follow Christ. All the 
sorrow that is required to constitute repent- 
ance is just enough to lead us to forsake 
sin. And no man will ever begin to follow 
the sinless Saviour till he is tired of sin, and 
willing to forsake it. 

" But is it not necessary," somebody else 
is asking, " that some feeling should accom- 
pany this step ? Can I start right off in the 
Christian life in this cool and deliberate man- 
ner?" Undoubtedly you can. That was 
the way that James and John and Simon 
and Andrew started. We do not learn that 
they put on sackcloth, and waited in Caper- 
naum, bewailing their sins, and going 
through with a regular course of conviction 
before they followed Christ. There is no 
account of their refusing to stir until some 

powerful impulse seized them, and pushed 

11 



66 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 

them on in the way by which Christ had 
gone. "Straightway," when Jesus called 
them, " they left their nets, and followed 
him." You know a great deal more about 
him than they knew then. You need his 
wisdom and grace at least as much as they 
did ; and there is no reason why you should 
not respond just as promptly as they did. 

When any duty is to be done, it is fortu- 
nate for you if you feel like doing it ; but, if 
you do not feel like it, that is no reason for 
not doing it. Suppose that a note of yours 
is due to-morrow at the bank ; and a friend 
who happens to know it, and who thinks 
that you have forgotten about it, hurries in 
just before the close of banking hours, to 
remind you of it; to whom you reply, 
" Oh, yes : I know it ; and I suppose I ought 
to go down and pay it. The money is 
here in my safe, and I have been thinking of 
it all day ; but, for some reason, I don't feel 
moved to do it at all. I know it will injure my 
credit very much to have the note protested ; 
and I suppose that I ought to feel deeply 

12 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHKISTIAN? 67 

anxious about it ; but somehow I don't. Do 
you think it would be right for me, feeling 
as I do, to go down to the bank, and pay the 
note?" What would your friend think if 
he heard you talk in that way ? Yet that^ 
is exactly the way in which some of you do 
talk about an obligation which is certainly 
not less plain and not less urgent. 

Some one rings your bell, and tells you 
that a man has fainted upon your doorstep, 
and is lying there in the cold in danger of 
perishing. ''Ah, yes," you say: "poor fel- 
low ! I saw him lying there half an hour 
ago. He ought to be taken care of, doubt- 
less ; and, if I only felt moved to do it, I 
would bring him in, and try to resuscitate 
him. But I find no such impulse in my 
heart ; and it would surely be hypocrisy for 
me to manifest an interest in him which I do 
not feel." 

How would the plea of a want of feeling 
serve in a case like that ? Believe me, my 
friend, it serves no better to excuse your 
hesitation , in beginning the Christian life. 

13 



68 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 

Lack of inclination, want of impulse, is a 
poor apology for failure in the performance 
of plain duty. If you know that, sin is dis- 
graceful and ruinous ; if you believe that 
Christ is able and ready to save you from 
sin, then the plea that you do not feel like 
availing yourself of his aid is both silly and 
shameful. 

Sometimes the fact that a person feels dis- 
inclined to a course of conduct is the very 
reason why he ought to enter upon it. One 
who has taken an overdose of opium does 
not feel like keeping his body in active 
exercise. Yet that is just what he must do 
to save his life. If he is permitted to lie 
down and go to sleep, he will never awaken. 
Perhaps you may be in a similar condition. 

" But this account of what must be done 
to become a Christian is very different," you 
say, " from' the accounts that I have often 
heard. The experiences of many Christians, 
as they have been related in my hearing, 
show that they have passed into the service 
of Christ through long and painful conflicts. 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHEISTIAN ? 69 

through agonies of contrition, through gulfs 
of dark despair." That is true, but it does 
not follow that their experience was one 
that anybody ought to imitate. If they 
were so headstrong that they struggled long 
before they would submit to the Master's 
yoke, if they were so proud that they could 
not without a painful strife surrender their 
souls to his keeping, that is no reason why 
you, too, should be proud and headstrong. 

When I was a farmer's boy I remember 
once, on a stormy night, trying to get the 
sheep of which I had the care into a safe 
shelter. Most of them seemed ready enough 
to go in, but there was one who would not. 
I tried to call him in ; but he stood outside 
stamping his feet and shaking his head in a 
very defiant fashion. I tried to drive him 
in ; but he would turn suddenly from the 
narrow entrance, and leap past me, and then 
stand at a little distance, and bleat, as if he 
were a deeply injured animal. At last, by 
masterly strategy, I succeeded in getting 
him in, and fastening the door behind him. 

15 



70 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 

Once in, lie seemed to enjoy the fold as 
much as any other member of the flock. 
But I presume that, if you could have got 
him to relate his experience, he would have 
told you that it was a terrible thing to go 
into a sheepfold, that it was only accom- 
plished after many struggles and doubts and 
fears. 

There are a great many sheep in Christ's 
fold who have had much the same sort of a 
time in getting in, and some of them think 
that their way is the only right way of 
entering. I do not think so. It is not be- 
coming, when Christ's call is heard, for any 
of us to devote our time to fruitless lamen- 
tations over our past misdeeds, or to any 
scenic exhibitions of our own perverseness. 
The only thing for us to do is to arise and 
follow. We shall most clearly show our 
sorrow for past neglect by prompt obedience 
and faithful living in the present. 

These sentimental struggles of the soul 
before conversion are frequently of the 
nature of penances. They often grow out 

IG 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 71 

of the idea that suffering is a good thing in 
itself, that God is pleased to see us torture 
ourselves aAvhile before he consents to for- 
give us. The Roman Catholic Bible reads, 
'' Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand." Our Bible says, " Repent ye, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The 
two commands are utterly unlike. Doing 
penance is using your sins as scourges with 
which to lacerate yourself. Repenting is 
turning away from j^our sins, and forsaking 
them. That is what the man does who, like 
Matthew or the Ethiopian eunuch, instantly 
surrenders himself to the call of Christ. 
That is not what the man does who waits, 
before obeying the call, to put himself 
through an ordeal of contrition. He does 
penance, but he does not repent. 

Xo : there are no long stages of prepara- 
tion through which you must pass ; all things 
are now ready ; there is nothing to hinder 
you from becoming a Christian this very 
hour. And, if any of you have been trying 
to make yourself better until you are weary 

17 



72 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 

and discouraged in the work, all you have to 
do is to put it into stronger hands. By this I 
do not mean that you shall abandon the 
work of trying to do right, but that you shall 
give the direction of it to a Master work- 
man, and you yourself become his industrious 
and faithful servant. 

One day, in the City of New York, as I 
was walking up the Third Avenue, I saw a 
little boy standing near the Bible House, by 
the side of a huge bundle of stationer's stores. 
He had been tugging it for some distance, 
and he was pretty well tired out. As I 
approached him, he looked up into my face, 
and said modestly, " Please, sir, can you tell 
me how I could get this bundle up to 
Twenty-first Street ? " It was an appeal 
that I could not refuse ; so thrusting my 
walking-stick through the cords of the pack- 
age, and giving him the longest end of it, we 
lifted the bundle, and trudged on together 
till we reached the stationer's shop. 

Now there were several other things that 
little boy might have done. He might have 

18 



HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHEISTIAN? 73 

gone away, and left his bundle in the street : 
that would have been unfaithfulness to the 
trust reposed in him. He might have ashed 
me to help him carry it a block or two : 
then he would have been but a little better 
off. He might have asked me to help him, 
insisting that I should give him the entire 
management of the job : if he had, I pre- 
sume I should have been disinclined to help 
him. Or he might have requested me to 
carry it for him, refusing to lend a hand him- 
self : then I should surely have left him to 
get it home the best way he could. But 
what he did do seemed to me^the most sensi- 
ble thing that such a little boy with such a 
big bundle, so far from home, could have 
done ; and the grateful " Thank you, sir," 
with which he parted from me at the door of 
his shop, amply paid me for my labor and 
delay. 

Now, it seems to me, my friends, that some 
of you are in that little boy's condition. 
You have a heavy load to carry, and you are 
a long way from home. You have a charge 

19 



74 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHBISTIAN? 

to keep, a labor to perform, which often 
seems too hard for you. To live purely and 
blamelessly, to subdue your appetites and 
passions, — this is your task. To carry with 
an even hand the heavy obligations of life up 
the narrow way of rectitude, — this is your 
burden. You have become pretty thorough- 
ly convinced that you can never bear it alone. 
But what will you do ? Will you abandon 
your burden in despair ? All you have, that 
is worth saving, is bound in it. A Wayfaring 
Man is passing by. Perhaps he will help 
you. Among all the throngs of passengers, 
he is the only one whose eye is cast upon 
you. Will you speak to him? What will 
you say to him ? Will you ask him to help 
you carrj^ it a little way? That is what 
many people are inclined to do. They are 
willing to have a little temporary help from 
Christ ; but they are not willing to take his 
yoke upon them with a pledge to bear it 
while they live. This casual grace, if j^ou 
could obtain it, is not Avhat you want. 

Will you ask him to help you, but insist 

20 



HOW SHALL T BECOME A CHRISTIAN? 75 

on having all the control of the work your- 
self ? Which is the wiser, — you, or he ? 

Will you ask him to carry it for you, and 
then yourself refuse to do what he bids you ? 
That prayer he will not hear. He helps 
those who help themselves, — none others. 
The burden of guilt, of anxiety, of fear, — 
that he will carry for you, the whole of it. 
His forgiveness will be so prompt and free, 
that it will lift that load in a moment from 
your heart. But there will still be duties to 
do, and responsibilities to bear, of which you 
must not expect to be relieved. Christ did 
not come to deliver you from labor : he came 
to help you in the performance of labors that 
were too heavy for you. His grace supple- 
ments, it does not supplant, your own activ- 
ity. When you hear the sound of a going in 
the tops of the mulberry-trees, you are not 
to lie down in the shade : you are to bestir 
yourself. 

Will you, then, do just what the little boy 
did, — ask him humbly to help you, making 
no conditions or suggestions or reservations 

21 



76 HOW SHALL I BECOME A CHRISTIAK ? 

whatever ? Will you tell him frankly, that 
you cannot carry your load, and that you 
need help ? Will you suffer him to help 
you in his own way, and be glad and thank- 
ful if he will only take you under his care, 
and direct the whole course of your life for 
you? 

That, my friends, is the only right way, 
the only sensible way. The wayfaring man, 
Christ Jesus, has helped many and many a 
tired traveller home with burdens quite as 
heavy as yours. Often and often he goes up 
and down this thoroughfare of life in search 
of just su,ch overladen pilgrims ; an(J his voice 
is sounding forth above all the babble of the 
busy tongues and the clatter of the busy 
wheels, saying, — •■ 

" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

" Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; 
for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls. 

" For my yoke is easy, and my burden is 
light." 

22 



IV. 



l^oiM sf)all I Hnohj ixifirtfjer I am a 
C|}rtstian, or not ? 



HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHER I AM A 
CHRISTIAN, OR NOT ? 



Ij^OR many good people this is a hard 
--■- question. Within the churches are a 
multitude of sincere souls whose deepest 
thought finds expression in John Newton's 
homely quatrain, — 

** 'Tis a point I long to know, 

Oft it causes anxious thought ; 
Do I love the Lord, or no ? 
Am I his, or am I not ? " 

This uncertainty greatly distresses them. 
Thej^ fear that they are in a false position, 
and they are continually searching their ov/n 
lives for evidences that they are true chil- 
dren of God. 

Outside the churches are many in the 

1 79 



80 HOW SHALL I KNOAV ^YHETHER 

same perplexity. They have tried to become 
Christians, but they are not at all sure that 
they have succeeded. If they should be 
asked whether they are Christians or not, 
they would probably answer in the negative ; 
yet they feel certain that they have done 
every thing that they can do to secifre the 
forgiveness of their sins, and the favor of 
their heavenly Father ; and they do not see 
why they are not accepted of him. 

I have no doubt that many of these are 
Christians. In all our congregations, and in 
many of our Christian families, are persons 
who are true disciples and followers of 
Christ, but who have never been able to 
reach this assurance, because they have al- 
waj^s been looking for it in wrong places. 
They are defrauding themselves of a good 
hope. They are shutting themselves, hy this 
distrust, out of joy which belongs to them, 
and out of work which they ought to be 
doing. I wish that I might make the matter 
so plain to them that they would enter at 
once into their duty and their reward. 

2 



I AM A CHRISTIAN, OR NOT? 81 

Is this question necessarily a difficult one? 
Must the answer to it be involved in obscu- 
rity ? It does not seem to us, when we begin 
to think about it, that it ought to be. If 
God calls men into his service, and tells 
them that their well-being in this life and in 
the life to come depends upon their heeding 
his call, it is surely not reasonable to suppose 
that he would make it difficult for them to 
know whether they have obeyed it or not. 
Suppose that an epidemic is destroying the 
lives of hundreds of people, and that a phy- 
sician discovers a sure preventive. In it- 
self it is something very simple ; but his pre- 
scription which he gives to the public is so 
abstruse and complicated in its phraseology, 
that nobody can be clear whether he has 
followed it or not. Consequently all those 
who have attempted to protect themselves 
against the disease are left with the distress- 
ing apprehension that they may have made 
some mistake ^bout it. Now, we should say 
that a physician who confused a matter of 

this sort was a cruel bungler if he did it 

3 



82 HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHER 

carelessly, and a monster of malice if he did 
it purposely. One-half of the benefit of such 
a prophylactic, we should say, is in the sense 
of security which it gives to the minds of 
those who resort to it. The value of a 
course of treatment which is so uncertainly 
prescribed that no one can be sure whether 
he is following it, or not, would be very 
doubtful. 

Now, the Great Physician has published a 
remedy for the plague of sin, — remedy and 
preventive in one ; and can we suppose 
that he is either so careless, or so cruel, as to 
make it impossible for us to determine 
whether we have succeeded in applying it ? 
That is quite incredible. It must be that 
those who strive to follow Christ may have a 
reasonable assurance that they are walking 
in the right way. 

The Christian life is sometimes represented 

as a vocation or calling. It is not difficult 

for an individual to know whether or not he 

has entered upon any other calling. Some, 

indeed, there are, who have no definite occu- 

4 



I AM A CHRISTIAi^, OR NOT? 88 

pation ; but if a man has chosen a life-work, 
and devoted himself to it, he generally 
knows it. Ask him what his business is, and 
he will answer promptly enough, " I am a 
carpenter," or, " I am a lawyer," or, " I am a 
druggist," or, " I am a machinist," as the 
case may be. The carpenter does not say to 
you, in a sad, uncertain tone of voice, '^ I 
don't know : I have been trying for five, or 
ten, or forty years, to be a carpenter, and I 
have sometimes hoped that I was one ; in- 
deed, there have been seasons when I felt 
quite sure of it; but I am often in great 
doubt." He may say, indeed, "I am not so 
good a carpenter as I might be; I have seen 
nicer workmen ; but I can do a pretty fair 
job, and I am not ashamed of my trade. It 
is one that I freely chose, and that I have 
done my best to learn ; and I shall work at 
it as long as I live, if I can find employ- 
ment." Surely there is nothing presump- 
tuous in saying as much as that. A man 
who did not have his mind made up about 
such a matter, and who did not know his own 

5 



84 HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHER 

mind, would never accomplish much in this 
world. 

And, if he were only an apprentice, he 
might confidently say, " I am going to be a 
carpenter if I live : I have chosen that as 
my life-work, and am learning it as fast as I 
can, I shall know the business better by 
and by, but I am working at it now every 
day." 

Why is it not possible for those who have 
chosen the Christian vocation, and have 
devoted their lives to it, to know that they 
have done so ? 

The Christian life is sometimes repre- 
sented as citizenship in a kingdom, or as 
loyalty to a government. Every one of us 
knows whether he is a loyal citizen of the 
United States, or not. During the late war, 
this question came home to us in a very 
pointed way more than once ; and we had 
no difficulty in answering it. We knew 
then whether we loved our country or not, 
and we know now. If any one should ask 
you, in your journey ings abroad, what your 

6 



T AM A CHEISTIAN", OE NOT ? 85 

nationality was, what would your answer 
be ? Would you say, " Really, I am not 
quite sure. I have lived in the United 
States all my life, and have voted and paid 
taxes there, and have sometimes hoped that 
I might be considered a citizen of that 
country; but I am troubled with a good 
many doubts about it"? Or would you 
simply say, " I am an American," and mean 
to cover by that claim not only your birth- 
right citizenship, but also the free and loyal 
love that binds you to your native land ? 

Why should you not be just as sure that 
you are loyal to Christ's kingdom as that 
you are loyal to the government of j'our 
country ? 

The Christian life is, as we have seen, not 
only allegiance to a government, but devo- 
tion to a person. It begins with a surrender 
of the soul, in an entire and unfaltering trust, 
to Jesus Christ the Saviour. Love to him,* 
faith in him, union with him, are its constant 
inspiration. Now, it is not difficult for any 
of us to tell whether, or not, we .iire cherish- 

7 



86 HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHER 

iiig a personal affection for those who are 
nearest ns in this world. The dutiful child 
is in no doubt as to whether he loves his 
mother, or not. The parent does not need to 
stop and search his heart to see whether he 
can find any traces of affection for his child. 
Your chosen friend, your most intimate com- 
panion, — you know what your feelings are 
toward him. Why should there be any 
more uncertainty in your mind concerning 
3^our loYe for Christ? You have not seen 
iiim, but you may communicate with him 
every day and every hour. The bodily form 
in which he appeared to men is not with us, 
but "we have the mind of Christ." His 
thoughts are not only recorded for us in the 
New Testament, but they are given us by 
direct inspiration, whenever we open our 
minds to receive them. His love was not 
only manifested to us on the cross, but it 
IS revealed to us every day in care the most 
constant, help the most loving, comfort the 
most sweet and precious. The fact that we 
cannot see him is no reason v/hy we should 



I AM A CHRISTIAN, OR NOT? 87 

not know him. Very likely there are per- 
sons in this world, whom you have never 
seen, for whom you have conceived a 
strong affection. You have been in commu- 
nication with them; their thoughts and 
feelings have been made known to you ; and, 
though you have not seen their faces or 
touched their hands, you know their minds; 
and all love that is genuine has a great deal 
more to do with the mind than with the face 
or the hands. Now, communication with 
Christ is much more direct, and may be 
much more constant, than with any earthly 
friend, far or near; and there is no reason 
why our affection for him should not con- 
stantly deepen and strengthen, no reason 
why we should not be quite as sure that we 
love him as that we love any other friend. 
For the faculties of the soul which are called 
into exercise in loving him are the same 
faculties v*^hich we exercise when we love 
our children or our parents or onr compan- 
ions ; and there is no more mystery in their 
use in the one case than in the other. 

9 



88 HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHEE 

The Christian life may also be considered 
as a hungering and thirsting for righteous- 
ness. This, as we have seen, is the princi- 
ple from which it starts, and the goal toward 
which it travels. You go to Christ because 
you hate sin, and desire to overcome it. 
You follow Christ because he promises to 
enable you to make his righteousness your 
own. Now, you know, of a certainty, 
whether or not this is your purpose. You 
know whether you have set before yourself 
righteousness, rather than happiness, as your 
being's end and aim. If this is the ruling 
motive of your life ; if you want to be pure 
and true and good more than you want any 
thing else, and if by Christ's grace you mean 
to be, then you are a Christian. And there 
is no more difficulty in your knowing that 
this is your purpose, than in knowing that 
you have decided to buy a house, or to make 
a journey, or to study a profession. 

Now, take these illustrations, and apply 
them to youi* own cases. 

1, Have 3^ou chosen tha service of Christ 

10 



I AM A CHEISTIAK, OE, NOT? 89 

as your high . calling, your life-work, with 
an honest intention of continuing in it, by 
his grace, as long as you shall live ? 

2. Are you loyal to his government? Is 
he the Lord of your life, the sovereign of 
j^our heart ? Is it your sincere endeavor to 
seek first his kingdom ? 

3. Are you bound to him as to a friend, 
by a strong personal affection ? 

4. Are you striving with all your might 
to follow him in the way of righteousness ? 

If you are genuine disciples of Christ, I 
know that you will answer all of these 
questions promptly, unless it be the third 
one. Some of us may be able to respond 
to that with equal promptness. Doubtless 
all of us ought to be. But there are many 
Christians who hesitate when they are asked 
whether they are conscious of a personal 
affection for Christ. They know that they 
honor him, that they are grateful to him, 
and that they are trying to do his will ; but 
they cannot speak, as some do, of that glow- 
ing love which unites the soul with Christ 



90 HOW SHALL I KKOW WHETHER 

in a sweet consciousness of fellowship. 
This experience is one to which Christians 
do not always attain at the beginning of 
their course, but it is not beyond the reach 
of any of us; and a faithful following of 
Christ ought to lead us into it. Some per- 
sons are naturally more trustful than others, 
make friends more readily, respond more 
quickly to overtures of affection : such 
natures will more easily establish this per- 
sonal relation with Christ, and will enter 
into a feeling of union with Mm more speed- 
ily, though they may be no more devout 
and no more devoted than some who can- 
not speak with confidence of any such expe^ 
rience. 

But, even though in this respect your evi- 
dence that you are a Christian maj^ not be so 
clear as you could wish, if you can answer 
the other three questions in the affirmative, 
you ought to know that you are a Christian. 
If you know that you have consecrated your 
life to the service of Christ, that you are 
loyal to his kingdom in purpose and in .deed, 

12 



I AM A CHIIISTIAK, OR NOT? 91 

and that you are endeavoring by his grace to 
walk in the way of righteousness, then you 
have no right to doubt that jon are a . Chris- 
tian. For, if you know that these things are 
true of you, God knows it too, does he not? 
And, if he knows that such are your sincere 
desires and your honest endeavors, then, 
although you may make a great many mis- 
takes, and may often fail of realizing your 
purposes, he will be patient and pitiful in 
his treatment of you; and he assures us 
that those whose hearts are turned toward 
him with such earnest purpose, he will in no 
wise cast out. 

WTien you know that you have done^ so far 
as you can^ what is necessary in order to be- 
come a Christian^ then you ought to know that 
you are a Christian. 

" God is not a man, that he should lie." 
He says to you, " Seek, and ye shall find." 
When, therefore, you know that you have 
earnestly sought, you know, if his word is 
true, that you have also found. To entertain 
any doubt of it, is to make him a liar. 

13 



92 HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHER . 

Though you may not have any evidence in 
yonr feelings that he accepts you as his 
child, you have his word for it; and you 
ought to have a great deal more confidence 
in his word than in the report of your own 
emotions. 

"All this may be true," says some one; 
" but how can I be sure that I have earnestly 
sought him ? May I not be deceived right 
here ? May I not think that I am in earnest 
when I am not ? " 

No : I do not think that any one is ever 
deceived in' this matter who does not want to 
be. You are dealing with a Being of perfect 
truth; and he would not suffer you to be 
innocently misled to your own ruin. If you 
are a deliberate hypocrite, then doubtless in de- 
ceiving others you may succeed in deceiving 
yourself; but, if you want to know the truth 
about your own spiritual condition, God's 
Spirit will reveal it to you. You are not self- 
deceived unless you are a wilful and con- 
scienceless deceiver of others. And, if you 
honestly think that you have done what you 

14 



I AM A CHEISTIAX, OU NOT? 93 

could to become a Christian, you have no 
right to doubt that you are a Christian. 

Every one of us may know what is the 
ruling purpose of his life ; and he who knows 
that his rulmg purpose is to trust and follow 
Christ knows that he is a Christian. 

But there is another kind of evidence that 
is still more clear and satisfactory : that is the 
evidence which is furnished by the course of 
our own experience. By this, I do not mean 
the revelation which is made in conscious- 
ness. There are those who speak of an 
inner light, — a feeling of assurance, which 
is so strong that they rest their faith upon 
it. This is what Paul means, I suppose, by 
the witness of the Spirit; and those who 
have received it ought to be thankful for it. 
But there are Christians who cannot speak 
with confidence of any such evidence as this, 
who yet feel that they have in their own ex- 
perience the most conclusive proofs that they 
are the children of God. Their confidence 
is not in any revelations which have been 
made to them, not in any light which they 

15 



94 HOW SHALL I KKOW WHETHER 

have seen, not in any ecstasy wliicli they 
have felt. The ground of their hope is 
something much more commonplace, and 
much more stable. It is the whole history 
of their Christian lives. 

They have been faithfully trying for years 
to reduce their religion to practice ; and the 
proofs that their religion is true and real 
have been multiplying and strengthening, 
the longer they have lived. They have 
asked again and again for spiritual gifts from 
God, and have received what they asked for. 
They have been struggling against their 
faults and failings, trusting in the divine aid ; 
and in this conflict they are sure that the 
help of the Omnipotent has been freely given 
to them. Vices and weaknesses which they 
never could overcome in their own strength, 
they have conquered by the grace of God. 
They can connect their prayers with these 
moral victories, as closely as they can con- 
nect any other cause with its effects. 

So, too, in the work they have midertaken 
for others, it seems to them certain that they 

16 



I AM A CHBTSTIAN, OR NOT? 95 

have had the help of the Master again and 
again. Duties from which they shrunk have 
been made easy ; burdens which they 
thought would crush them have been won- 
derfully lightened ; in the hour when their 
testimony was wanted, their tongues have 
been loosened ; their timidity has been 
changed to courage, their doubt to confi- 
dence, their weakness to strength, by trust- 
ing in the divine Helper. They have proved 
God, and have found by long experience 
that the promises of his word are verities. 

Their realization of the divine aid has 
been at some seasons much less vivid than at 
others. There have, indeed, been periods in 
their lives when they have neglected this 
close connection with the Power unseen; but 
the assurance of his ability to help has been 
exactly proportioned to the constancy and 
earnestness with which they have sought his 
aid. And, looking back over their history, 
they feel that the proof of the reality of the 
Christian life is cumulative, — that it rests 
not wholly upon the assurance of another, 

17 



X 



96 HOYNT SHALL I KNOW WHETHER 

but largely upon experience ; and that it is 
in great measure the kind of proof which 
scientific men insist upon, — an induction of 
facts which have come within their own 
knowledge. 

This is a conyiction into which every man 
must make his own way. Every one of us 
must give account for himself unto God, and 
every one of us must find out for himself 
whether God's word is true. The religious 
experience is wholly individual. It is impos- 
sible for us to reach and tabulate the facts of 
other men's lives, because it is impossible for 
us to know what the mental experiences of 
other men are. We know what takes place 
in our own minds, but we cannot tell what 
is passing in the minds of others. 

It will be observed, too, that this convic- 
tion of the truths of religion is the result 
neither of metaphysics nor of mysticism, but 
that it is produced by a steady and patient 
endeavor to reduce Christianity to life. If 
you want to know the certainty of these 
things, you must put them in practice. If 

18 



I AM A CHRISTIAN, OH KOT ? 97 

you wish to find out whether a machine will 
work, you set it a-going. If you want to 
know whether a coat will fit, you put it on. 
The religion of Christ is a practical religion ; 
and the only test which you can apply to it 
is the test of use. If you will take the Mas- 
ter at his word, and do his will, you shall 
know of the doctrine ; not merely by the 
shining of an inner light, nor by the deduc- 
tions of a halting logic, but by the solid per- 
suasion which grows out of a happy and 
fruitful life. 

But some one wants to know whether in 
becoming a Christian one does not experience 
a change of heart, and whether one can 
experience such a change without knowing 
it immediately. 

Certainly, I answer: a change of heart 
does take place when one becomes a Chris- 
tian. "Ye must be born again," the Saviour 
said to Nicodemus ; and he who consecrates 
himself to the service of Christ, who learns 
of him and follows him, does experience the 
regenerating grace of God. But I do not 

19 



98 HOW SHALL I KKOW WHETHEB 

think that men are always conscious of this 
change when it takes place. All analogy is 
against such a theory. The beginnings of 
life are always small and silent. Were you 
conscious of the beginning of your natural 
life ? Do you even remember the first mo- 
ment of your consciousness ? No : you had 
been breathing, and thinking, and wondering, 
and wishing, and suffering, and taking pleas- 
ure, for weeks and months before any thing 
happened which you can remember. And it 
is very often that the new life begins in just 
this way. You are conscious of your own 
resolutions, your own struggles, your own 
attempts by faith to lay hold upon eternal 
life ; but the operations of the Divine Spirit 
go on in your heart for a long time beneath 
consciousness, and the change that is 
wrought in you is wrought without noise or 
demonstration. 

This phrase, "a change of heart," is one 
over which beginners in the Christian life 
are wont to stumble. It seems to them to 
suggest an emotional experience so marked 

20 



I AM A CHRISTIAN, OR NOT? 99 

and distinct, that they shall know when they 
have passed through it ; and, since they do 
not have any such experience, they begin to 
doubt whether they have become Christians. 

I knew a young man, more than twenty 
years ago, who found himself in just this 
perplexity. He had been trying for several 
weeks to live a Christian life, doing every 
duty as well as he knew how, and praying 
all the while for light and help ; but still he 
failed to experience what he expected ; and 
he went to his pastor, and sadly told him that 
there was something wrong. 

'' What is the trouble ? " asked the minis- 
ter. " I thought you were getting on brave- 
ly. Are you growing weary in your ser- 
vice?" 

" Oh, no ! but I haven't met with a change 
of heart. I thought that I should, if I kept 
trusting Christ, and trying to do his will • 
but I haven't." 

" How do you know that you haven't ? " 

"Well, it seems to me that I should have 
known, if I had." 

21 



100 HOW SHALL I KNOW WHETHEE. 

"Would you? Perhaps not. Let us see. 
You have not experienced a change of heart. 
What is the heart ? " 

" The affections, I suppose." 

" Exactly. Now, are you sure that your 
affections have not changed ? Did you love 
to read the Bible six weeks ago ? " 

"No." 

"Do you now?" 

" I do." 

" Did you love to pray before that time ? " , 

" No : I said my prayers generally ; but I 
didn't pray much." 

" Do you find pleasure in your prayers now, 
as well as profit ? " 

" Oh, yes ! " 

" Did you enjoy going to prayer-meeting or 
talking with Christians about religion six 
weeks ago ? " 

"Not at all." 

" And you do now ? " 

" I do, very much." 

"You can think, can you not, of several 
things, that you did find pleasure in nat 

22 



I AM A CHBISTIAN- OR KOT? 101 

long ago, in whicli you find no pleasure 
now ? " 

" Yes : a good many." 

" Well, then," said the minister, " I should 
think that you had met with a great change 
of heart. That which you loved most a 
short time ago, you care but little for now ; 
that which you cared nothing for then is 
your chief enjoyment now. It seems to me 
that your affections have almost wholly 
changed ; and, if by the heart is meant the 
affections, you have certainly experienced a 
change of heart." 

That young mau will never cease to be 
grateful to his minister for taking this phrase, 
which had been a barrier before his feet, 
and turning it into a staff to help him on 
his way. It is possible that the report of 
this simple conversation might make the way 
of life plainer for some of you. 

23 



V. 



tm sf)0ulti I join tfje Cijurcfj? 



WHEN SHOULD I. JOIN THE CHUECH? 



" rinHAT is not the first question," says 
somebody. " The first question is 
whether there is any need of joining the 
church at all. Cannot one be a Christian 
outside the church as well as inside ? " 

I have no doubt that one can be a Chris- 
tian without joining the church. There is^ 
no salvation in the sacraments, and there is 
no regenerating yirtue in religious profes- 
sions. But I do not think that you can be 
so good a Christian outside the church as 
you can be inside. You are not so good a 
Christian when you are neglecting a plain 
duty as you are when you are performing it. 
And joining the church is a plain duty for 
all who mean to be Christians. 

4 105 



106 WHEK SHOULD I JOIN THE CHURCH? 

Can there be any doubt about this ? Do 
not the explicit commands of our Saviour 
put this matter quite beyond the reach of 
question or cavil ? 

'' Whosoever therefore shall confess me 
before men, him will I confess also before my 
Father which is in heaven; but whosoever 
shall deny me before men, him will I also 
deny before my Father which is in heaven." 

These are plain words, and they are solemn 
words. It is vain to try to explain them 
away, or to evade their application. They 
mean just what they say ; and they make it 
the duty of every one who recognizes Christ 
as his Lord and Master, to make a public 
profession of his faith in him. 

Does any one doubt that Christ founded a 
church in the world into which men were 
to be received by baptism? Does any one 
forget that his last word to his followers was, 
" Go ye and disciple all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost"? Telling 
them to baptize everybody is certainly 

2 



WHEN SHOULD I JOIK THE CHURCH? 107 

equivalent to telling everybody to be 
baptized by them. It is no more true that 
God commands all men everywhere to re- 
pent, than that Christ commands all men 
everywhere to be baptized. 

The Lord's Snpper is the other sacrament 
of the church. And the observance of this 
is not only a sacred privilege but a solemn 
duty. '^ Do this in remembrance of me." 
It is not only an invitation, it is also a com- 
mand. You cannot claim that you are obey- 
ing him so long as you neglect this clear and 
explicit injunction which was spoken by his 
own lips. 

I said that one could doubtless be a 
Christian without joining the church; but 
that is only saying that one may be a Chris- 
tian who neglects a plain duty. For there 
are some Christians who are so blinded by 
prejudice or error, that they refuse to per- 
form the plainest duties. There can be no 
doubt, for example, that it is the duty of 
every citizen of this government to take part 
in the government, by informing himself con 



108 WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHUECH? 

cerning the issues that are pending, and by 
casting his vote, in every election, for the 
best policy and the best candidates. It is 
not only a political duty, it is a Christian 
duty ; for Christ bids us " render to Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's." Moreover, 
Paul tells us that " the powers that be are 
ordained of God," not to bear the sword in 
vain, but to do justice and judgment ; and in 
this country the people are '' the powers that 
be," the sovereign authority, upon whom the 
responsibilities of government are laid. Yet 
there are Christians who neglect this plain 
duty, and some who even refuse to perform 
it, holding themselves entirely aloof from 
politics, because the government is, in their 
view, defective in its form, or because there 
are so many evils in its administration. 
Now, it seems plain, doubtless, to all of us, 
that such conduct as this is not only foolish 
but inexcusable. If the government is not 
what it ought to be, it is every citizen's duty 
to do what he can by voice and vote to mate 
it better. A man who neglects this duty 

4 



WHEN SHOULD I JOUST THE CHUECH? 109 

may be a Christian, but lie is not so good a 
Christian as he would be if he performed it. 

The duty of taking part in the govern- 
ment of the state is much less urgent than 
the duty of taking part in the work of the 
church. Political governments are imperfect 
and short-lived, and there is no promise of 
the continuance of any of them. 

' ' Our little systems have their day, — 
They have their day, and cease to be ; " 

But the church endures from generation to 
generation : it is the one kingdom that can- 
not be moved ; it is the one instrumentality 
which is divinely ordained and indestructi- 
ble ; and the work of God in the world is 
carried on in it and by means of it. In spite 
of all the imperfections and corruptions 
which must attach to any thing in which 
men are engaged, the church is manifestly 
under the control of the divine wisdom ; it is 
the means which God has chosen for the 
salvation of men. To say, therefore, that 
you are not under obligation to connect your- 

5 



110 WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHURCH? 

self with it, and to give it your loyal support, 
is to impugn God's wisdom, to say that you 
know a better way of saving the world than 
the way that he has chosen. The refusal to 
enter its ranks, and do what you can to 
increase its victorious strength, is unfaithful- 
ness of the same kind as that of the citizen 
who holds himself aloof from all political 
action ; nay, as much worse than his as the 
church is higher and diviner than the state. 

The reasons urged upon you for joining 
the church are often reasons which appeal to 
your self-interest. You are told that it will 
help you in living a Christian life ; that the 
ordinances and the fellowship of the church 
give stimulus and strength to those who 
walk in them; that, if you do not thus 
identify yourself with God's people, you will 
be likely to lose your interest in religion, and 
to drift away into utter worldliness. And 
these words are true, beyond a doubt. I 
have seen them proved true a great many 
times. You ought not to lose sight of these 
considerations; but, after all, the strong rea- 

6 



WHEN SHOULD I JOIJS" THE OHQECH? Ill 

son for joining the church is not that yon will 
gain by it, but that it is your duty to do it. 
No command of Christ is more express. No 
duty is further removed from the sphere of 
casuistry. It is a matter concerning which 
those who have chosen Christ for their mas- 
ter cannot stop to argue. 

If, then, it is a plain duty to join the 
church, the question which we set out to 
answer is answered already. The time to do 
any plain duty is the present time, or the 
earliest possible time. It is my duty to 
speak the truth. When shall I speak the 
truth? Now, every day, continually. It is 
my duty to deal honestly. When ? When- 
ever I have any dealings. It is my duty to 
make reparation to my neighbor of any 
wrong that I have done him. When ? Just 
as soon as I am able to do it. Not when I 
feel like it, not when it is convenient to do 
it; but, setting aside all considerations of 
pleasure or convenience, just as speedily as I 
may. 

It is my duty to make a public profession 

7 



112 WHEN SHOULD I JOIK THE CHUKCH? 

of my faith in Christ, and connect myself 
with his church. When ? At the very first 
opportunity. There is no more warrant for 
delay than there is in the presence of any 
other clear obligation. 

When the citizen comes of age, you never 
hear him asking when he shall begin to vote. 
He votes, if he is an intelligent and consci- 
entious man, at the first election, and at 
every succeeding election when it is within 
his power. He begins to exercise the duties 
of citizenship as soon as he becomes a citi- 
zen. He sees to it that his name is enrolled 
on the registry lists, that he may be counted 
among the responsible electors and rulers of 
the land. What would you think of the 
man who neglected this duty because he did 
not feel patriotic or public-spirited enough to 
perform it ; who kept waiting, year by 
year, till he should feel that he was a good 
citizen, before he began to do his duty as a 
citizen ? Would you not tell him that the 
way to become a good citizen was by per- 
forming, rather than neglecting, tliQ most 
obvious duties of citizenship ? ^ 



WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHUECH? 113 

But this is just the excuse which is given 
for not joining the church, by many of those 
who confess that they have chosen the ser- 
vice of Christ, and that they are endeavor- 
ing to live as Christians. They are not good 
enough, they say. And you think, do you, 
good friends, that you will become better 
Christians by refusing to obey the express 
command of Christ ? How long do you 
think it will take you, walking in this path 
of disobedience, trampling his most positive 
orders under your feet every day, to reach 
that perfection of character which shall fit 
you for membership in his church ? 

But you are not disobedient, you say, at 
least not consciously and deliberately, to 
any command but this. You are earnestly 
trying to live a Christian life, to overcome 
your sins, and to grow in all the graces of 
the Christian character. This is the only 
duty that you wilfully neglect. 

I am glad to believe that this is true of 
some of you : yet who gave you permission 
to neglect one plain duty ? Where did you 

9 



114 WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHURCH? 

get your dispensation of disobedience in this 
one thing ? Does not the Christian law of 
consecration call for the whole heart ? Is 
not this keeping back of part of the price 
the very essence of unbelief? Do we not 
read that he who keeps the whole law, and 
yet offends in one point, the same is guilty of 
all? This halting submission, which stops 
just short of full obedience, is not what 
Christ expects of his followers. 

But you protest that your only reason for 
refusing to confess your faith in Christ is 
that you are not good enough. If you were 
good enough, there would be no need of con- 
fessing Christ, — no need of Christ at all. 
It is just because you are not good enough, 
that Christ says to you, " Follow me." He 
came not to call the righteous, but sinners, 
to repentance. It is not the perfect people, 
or the self-satisfied people, whom he wants 
in his church, but those who have a deep 
sense of their own imperfection, and who 
believe that his strength is made perfect in 
weakness. 

10 



WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHUKCH? 115 

What is more, your expectation that you 
will "grow better in staying away," — better 
in your own sight, — is one that will not be 
fulfilled. It is just as true of joining the 
church as it is of becoming a Christian, that, 
if you tarry till you feel that you are better, 
you will never come at all. 

How many I have known who have tried 
this experiment faithfully, and have found 
out the folly of it ! A lady once came to me, 
desiring to unite with the church. I asked 
her how long she had been a Christian ; and 
she told me that she gave herself to the 
service of Clirist more than twenty years 
ago. 

" Have you been faithfully trying to live 
as a Christian all these years ? " I asked. 

" I have," was the answer. 

"Why, then, have you not before this 
time made a profession of your faith? " 

"Because I wanted to be better satisfied 
with my religious experience," she replied. 
" I did not feel that I was good enough to 
join the church ; and 1 wanted to wait till I 
was better." ii 



116 WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHTJUCH? 

"And do you feel that you are better 
now ? " 

"No: I do not" (very positively). "I 
am not any better satisfied with myself than 
I was when I began to follow Christ. I see 
my own imperfections quite as clearly as I 
did then. But I have made up my mind that 
it is my duty to confess my faith in the Sav- 
iour who died for me ; and I know that, if I 
wait till I am satisfied with my own condi- 
tion, I shall wait forever." 

That is only one of many testimonies to 
the same effect that I have heard from the 
lips of those who had been waiting until 
they were worthy to join the church. I 
never heard anybody say that he was glad 
that he had waited. I never heard anybody 
express the opinion, at the end of a period 
of waiting, that he was worthier to be a 
church-member than he was when he first 
entered upon the Christian course. I have 
heard almost uniformly, from such persons, 
regrets that the public confession had not 
been more promptly made. 

12 



WHEN SHOULD I JOHlT THE CHUECH? 117 

f 

" Was it true, then," you ask, " that 
these persons had grown no better through 
all these months and years of waiting? 
How can a person be a Christian, and not 
improve in character ? Are we not often 
told that that is just what is meant by being 
a Christian ? " 

To this I answer, that it is not necessary 
to suppose that these persons had made no 
progress at all. They had not advanced as 
rapidly as they ought to have done, because 
one who neglects an obvious duty must, 
by that very neglect, be crippled in the 
Christian race. The thought of his disobe- 
dience is a weight about his neck. . But the. 
fact is, that one is not conscious of progress 
in the Christian life. He may know that 
his prayers are answered ; he may be certain 
that he has help from on high in overcoming 
his sins ; but he is all the while discovering 
his limitations and his weaknesses ; all the 
while finding new battles to fight, and new 
heights to climb; and, so far as his own feel- 
ing of worthiness is concerned^ that does not 

13 



118 WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHUBCH? 

become any more assured and satisfying as 
the time goes by. His growth in grace, if 
he makes any growth, is accompanied by a 
constant elevation of his standard of living. 
His ideals go before him, and they travel as 
fast as he does. You may fix- your eyes on 
the brightest constellation in the firmament, 
and follow it round the world without com- 
ing any nearer it. No charm is given to 
your fidelity "to stay the morning star in 
his steep course." The beauty of the rain- 
bow is always just so far in advance of your 
feet. Between what you are, and what you 
ought to be, the disparity, so far as your own 
feehngs are concerned, is never lessened by 
your continuance in well-doing. When, 
therefore, you wait until you shall feel more 
worthy to be a member of Christ's church, 
you wait for what, in the nature of the 
case, you can never attain, unless, indeed, 
you become a self-righteous hypocrite. 

But you say that you are delaying because 
you are afraid that if you join the church 
you may bring discredit upon the cause of 



WHEN SHOULD I JOIN THE CHURCH? 119 

Christ. Many professors of religion do, by 
their inconsistent lives, put the church to 
shame. You hear them spoken of as stum- 
bling-blocks ; you see that the logic of their 
lives tends to confute, rather than to confirm, 
the holy gospel they profess ; and you do 
not want to be numbered among them. 
God forbid that you should be ! But is 
there any need that you should be ? Have 
you not committed your soul to Him who is 
able to keep you from falling, and do you 
not believe that he will do it ? Every one 
that is God's faithful servant shall surely be 
holden up, for God is able to make him 
stand. That is his word ; do you not believe 
that it is true ? If you have intrusted your- 
self to Christ, and are living by faith in 
him; if you have surrendered yourself to 
his service and his guidance and his keep- 
ing, then your distrust of being able to live 
an upright and consistent life is distrust 
of him, not of yourself. It is an accusation 
of unfaithfulness brought against him. It 
is a confession of your doubt either of his 

15 



120 WHEN SHOULD I JOIN" THE CHUECH? 

power, or of his truthfulness. You do not 
wish to admit that you are harboring any 
such doubt as that ! 

But consider, pray, whether you are not, 
by refusing or delaying to identify yourself 
with Christ and his church, doing what you 
can, even now, to bring discredit upon his 
cause. You are saying in effect that his 
establishment in the world, of a visible 
church, was a superfluous work ; * that the 
world Avould be just as well off without the 
church as with it ; that the maintenance 
of its organization is a matter of no impor- 
tance. More than that, you are saying that 
men have a perfect right to pick and choose 
among the commands of Christ ; obeying 
such of them as are convenient, and disre- 
garding the rest. " Repent, and be bap- 
tized, every one of you," is the divine 
order. " No," you say ; " everybody ought 
to repent, of course; but only those should 
be baptized and join the church who feel 
like it. That is not a matter of obligation." 
Your lives are saying just that. No matter 



WHEiq SHOULD I JOUST THE CHURCH? 121 

how many disclaimers you may put in, that 
is what your actions mean ; and it is by your 
actions that you are judged. I see iiot how 
you could bring discredit upon Christ and 
his gospel more effectually than by this 
peremptory refusal to obey his plain com- 
mand. 

Remember, my friends, that you are 
counted on the one side or on the other. 
" He that is not with me is against me," the 
Master says. If you will not be numbered 
among his friends, you are sure to be num- 
bered among those who are not his friends. 
That is a category in which you do not 
desire to be put. 

There are some among you, who have long 
been endeayoring in a secret and somewhat 
unsteady fashion to lead a Christian life. 
You are not at all satisfied with the progress 
you haye made, and you haye a great many 
doubts about yourselyes ; but you are neyer- 
theless trying to trust in the Sayiour, and to 
follow him. The expectation of being at 
some time in your liyes pronounced and 

17 



122 WHEN SHOULD I JOIK THE CHURCH? 

positive disciples of Christ is one that you 
constantly cherish ; nothing could induce 
you to abandon it. Is it not a good time 
now to forsake your concealed and equivocal 
position, and come right to the front ? Do 
you not want to make your lives tell deci- 
sively and powerfully on the side of truth 
and goodness from this day onward ? And is 
not the cause of Christ in the world the 
cause of truth and goodness ? Would not 
the triumph of his gospel be the triumph of 
all that is highest and holiest? Notwith- 
standing the imperfections of the church, 
and the inconsistencies of its members, all 
of which I see as clearly as you do and 
lament as deeply, are not the best interests 
of all our communities bound up with the 
churches? And, if mischiefs do abound in 
them, is it not therefore the right and manly 
thing, not to stand apart carping and sneer- 
ing, but to take hold of them vigorously, 
and in the strength of God endeavor to make 
them better? Would you not feel better 
satisfied with yourself if you were giving 

18 



WHEK SHOULD I JOIN THE CHUBCH? 123 

your lives zealously and effectively to this 
highest of all labors ? Are you not conscious 
that you are defrauding yourself of a most 
precious right and privilege when you refuse 
to take an active part in Christ's work ? 

Answer these questions, my friends, at the 
bar of your own consciences, and remember 
that you must answer them one day before a 
more august tribunal. For the matter which 
we are considering is not a matter of con- 
venience or expediency: it is a matter of 
duty. By the express command of Him 
whom you call Master, the obligation is laid 
upon you. The obligation will become a 
privilege, as every duty does which he gives 
us to do, if we only take it up cheerfully and 
discharge it faithfully; but it is none the 
less an obligation. And let us beware how 
we seek to evade or to defer so plain a duty. 

19 



¥ 



I 



VI. 

But antr It 



BUT AND IF. 



"TTTHEN we dig down through the layers 
^ ^ of indifference and hostility under 
which men often keep their consciences 
covered from the appeals of God's word, we 
sometimes strike into what may be called 
the but and if erous formation. It is a con- 
glomerate of objections and excuses ; and, 
like the Pennsylvanian coal measures, it is 
practically inexhaustible. The ''buts" and 
the "ifs" which are unearthed by every 
exploration into the consciousness of those 
who refuse to enter upon the religious life 
are as many and as various as the fossils in 
the palaeozoic rocks. We have encountered 
several of them already in the course of 
these conversations ; but there are a iew 
more left, of which we may well take notice. 
" I should be ready to enter upon the 

1 127 



128 BUT AND IF. 

Cliristian life," says one avIio comes clad in 
the garb of a philosopher, "if it did not 
demand of me the abdication of my man- 
hood. You tell me that I must intrust 
myself to Christ; that I must submit to be 
instructed and guided and helped by him; 
that my will must be merged in his. But this 
is what no man must do. No man should 
submit his will to the dictation of anj^ power 
outside of himself. Every man must be the 
arbiter of his own conduct. The humility 
and dependence which the religion of Christ 
enjoins are inconsistent with true manhood." 
Your objection is a radical one, my friend 
philosopher, and it is not an uncommon one. 
In one form or another it is often urged. 
Mr. Mill tells us, that what we want in this 
world, or at any rate in some parts of it, is 
less of Christian self-denial, and more of 
Pagan self-assertion. Of that part of the 
world which Mr. Mill inhabited, this may be 
tfue; but it does not seem to me to hold 
good of regions hereabout. Yet even here 
there are voices which give forth the same 

2 



BUT AISTD IF. 129 

sound ; and the method of our religion which 
requires the subordination of the heart to a 
Master, of the life to a Ruler, is attacked as 
being unsound and unmanly. 

Nevertheless the necessity of submission 
and dependence is pretty clearly established 
without going to the New Testament to seek 
its foundations. Lordly and self-reliant as 
man is, he is yet constantly compelled to 
submit. Water will run down hill, let him 
will the contrary however stoutly. His 
firmest resolutions and his most vigorous 
endeavors are inadequate to keep the sun 
above the horizon a moment beyond its time 
of setting. The tides will ebb and flow in 
spite of him; the rain and the snow fall 
many times quite against his will ; the storm 
drives his ship upon the breakers without 
asking his consent ; the thunderbolt shatters 
his dwelling, and he cannot help himself. 
All he can do is to submit. If he does it 
gracefully, so much the better for him : if he 
chafes and struggles, it makes no difference 
whatever with the storms or the tides or the 

3 



130 BUT AND IF. 

currents or the planets. Man is surrounded 
on all sides with barriers which he cannot 
transgress. He may beat his life out against 
them, but he cannot overthrow them. They 
will confine him, and he must yield to them. 

He is obliged not only to submit, but also 
to depend. He must depend upon the sun 
and the showers for his crops ; he must de- 
pend upon the air he breathes for life ; he 
must depend upon the laws and forces of 
Nature for all his operations. He is all the 
while dependent. 

Now, is it not quite absurd for a creature 
subject to so many limitations, compelled to 
submit to superior power and to depend 
upon superior strength every moment of his 
life, to set himself up and say, "I will not 
submit. I will not depend. It is cowardly 
to submit. It is weak and unmanly to de- 
pend "? That is a false theory of life which 
rests upon such foundations. 

Before Lord Bacon's day, philosophy had 
been led perpetually in a mad dance after all 
manner of vagaries. The sages had adopted 

4 



BUT Ai^D IF. 131 

just your method, my friend objector. They 
had said, " Man is the lord of creation : it be- 
longs to him to lay down the laws of crea- 
tion." So they had been sitting still in their 
libraries, and fashioning elaborate theories of 
natural law, and then going forth to hang 
their theories upon the facts. But somehow 
the theories would never fit the facts. So 
philosophy was, in great part, a wild jumble 
of contradictions with very little certainty 
or coherency. 

But Bacon set out with a different method. 
His maxim was that man is the interpreter, 
rather than the lord, of Nature ; and he urged 
that we must sit down submissively at her 
feet, and observe her operations and her 
processes, from our observation inferring the 
truths of science. The result is, that we 
have now certainty and system in science, 
where before all was blank confusion. This 
method of submissive study substituted for the 
method of proud theorizing has brought order 
out of chaos, and light out of darkness. 

The right method in philosophy is the 



132 BUT AKD IF. 

right method in all departments of life. 
Bacon himself testified that the entrance to 
the temple of philosophy was exactly like 
the entrance to the temple of religion. Each 
is a strait gate, a humble portal. No man 
can go in at either without stooping and di- 
vesting himself of egotism and haughtiness. 
'' Except ye be converted and become as little 
children ye can in no case enter therein," 
is as true of the one as of the other. 

Therefore, when you tell me, my friend, 
that this humble submission and dependence 
which the religion of Christ requires of you 
is unreasonable and unmanly, I shall answer 
that, in the opinion of the greatest philoso- 
phers of our Anglo-Saxon race, it is the 
highest reason and the noblest manliness. 
The wisest men are always the humblest, the 
most willing to be led by truth, the most 
easy to be entreated. To yield to the de- 
mands of right is not unmanly. You abdi- 
cate your manhood not when you submit to 
the claims of righteousness, but when you 
refuse to do it. And he who submits to 

6 



BUT AKD IF. 133 

Christ submits only to truth and right ; not 
to an arbitrary and unreasoning ruler, but to 
One whose law is perfect, and whose coun- 
sels are infallible. 

I hear another objection which goes to the 
foundations of our Christianity. " There 
are many sound maxims in Christian ethics," 
says the critic; ''but the command to love 
our neighbor as ourselves is unreasonable. 
Reason teaches us to take care of ourselves. 
Self-preservation, not self-denial, is the first 
law of nature." 

But answer me, my friend, do you not 
admire most the persons who set that law at 
nought ? When you see one man perilling his 
life to rescue another, dying to save another, 
is there not something within you which cries 
out in heartiest applause ? The heroes of all 
patriotic warfare, — the men who give their 
lives for liberty and fatherland, — do not they 
disobey that law of self-preservation? and 
does not your very soul shout acclamations 
in their praise because they disobey it, because 
they count not their lives dear unto them, 



134 BUT AKD IF. 

SO that they may leave their country whole 
and free to posterity ? Is there not a voice 
of your spirits which always commends self- 
sacrifice ; which always condemns, in no meas- 
ured cadences, every thing which looks like 
selfish forge tfulness of the welfare of others? 

'' Ah, yes," you reply, '' but that is im- 
pulse ; that is not reason. When I sit coolly 
down and reason about it, I reach the con- 
clusion that each one has enough to do to 
attend to his own affairs, without troubling 
himself with the necessities of his fellows." 

My friend, these utterances of your spirit 
which you call impulses are simply moral 
intuitions. They are the highest forms of 
reason. If you fall into the habit of disre- 
garding them, or coolly sitting down and 
dissecting them, you inflict a death-wound 
upon your moral nature. When you arrive 
at the condition in which you never do any 
thing from impulse, you have got about as 
low as you can go. When that voice within 
your heart is silenced, which thunders forth 
its anathemas at meanness and selfish greed, 

8 



BUT AND IF. 135 

and rings out its peals of approbation in the 
presence of heroic self-denial, the very light 
that is in you will be darkness. Logic is 
lame ; it arrives at its conclusions tardily ; 
it often goes by the wrong road, and it 
sometimes gets to the wrong place. But 
this prompter that speaks from your moral 
intuitions, this faculty that, without stop- 
ping to debate, says quickly of an action, 
"It is right," or "It is wrong," — this you 
must not doubt. And it is this faculty 
which says instantly, whenever we see this 
law of love to our neighbor obeyed, " It is 
right." This law bears the same relation to 
morals that tlie axioms bear to mathematics. 
I cannot prove by reasoning, though I know 
by reason, that two times two is four. I can- 
not prove by reasoning, but I know by rea- 
son, that it is right for us to love our neigh- 
bors as ourselves. All the logic in the 
world cannot convince me, nor you either, 
my friend, that it is not right. 

Another objector declares that the doc- 
trines of our religion are not credible, " I 

9 



136 BUT AND IF, 

cannot accept the statements you make," 
he says, "because they are essentially mys- 
terious. There is nothing like them within 
the range of my experience. It is impossi- 
ble for me to verify them ; you must not ask 
me to say that I believe any thing which I 
cannot verifj-." 

I knoAV that some truths are revealed in 
the Bible which cannot be explained. They 
are truths which relate to God, to the mode 
of his existence, to the methods by which 
he has made himself known to men. But is 
it not, to begin with, rational to suppose that 
any revelation of God will contain some 
things which will be difficult of compre- 
hension ? That the Infinite is, reason clearly 
tells us; what the Infinite is, reason can 
never fully comprehend. Infinite Being is 
too large for our categories ; the thought 
cannot reach round it, and describe it; all 
attempts to make its substance known to us 
must be tentative and experimental. If 
there was nothing in the Bible about God 
which was not perfectly clear and intelligi- 

10 



BUT AND IE. 137 

ble ; if no paths were opened to our thought, 
whose end we could not quickly reach, — it 
would be impossible for us to believe the 
Bible to be a revelation from an Infinite 
Being. The shadows of mystery which lie 
upon its pages are proofs of its divine 
origin. 

But it is not only in our religion, my 
friend, that you find mysteries. Many 
things, just as hard to comprehend and ex- 
plain, confront you every day in the crea- 
tures with which both kingdoms of life are 
teeming. I can ask you as many hard ques- 
tions about a daisy or an oyster, as you can 
ask me about the God of the Bible. The 
mystery of life is absolutely insoluble by all 
your science, — always has been, always wi]l 
be. 

* * Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck yon out of the crannies ; 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower ; but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
. I should know what God and man is.*' 

11 



138 BtTT AKD IF* 

You cannot understand the doctrine of the 
incarnation, — how God could become man. 
But you believe, I suppose, that God exists, 
that he is perfect and infinite, and that 
he is the Creator of the heavens and the 
earth. Explain to me, if you can, how an 
infinitely perfect being could ever have cre- 
ated any thing. Listen to Origen : " If to 
create is agreeable to the divine essence, how 
is it conceivable, that what is thus conform- 
able to God's nature should at any time have 
been wanting ? " The things that are made 
are not eternal : they once began to be. 
" There was a period, then, during which 
God was not creating any thing: an eternity 
had passed before he began to create. But a 
transition from a state of not-creating to the 
act of creation is inconceivable without a 
change," and God is unchangeable. It is 
beyond the power of man to conceive of the 
creation of the universe by an infinitely per- 
fect being. It is not unreasonable, but it is 
inconceivable. There is nothing like it in 
your experience, and of course you cannot 

12 



BUT AND IF. 139 

verify it. The whole subject is environed 
-with mysteries and contradictions, yet you 
do not relinquish your belief that the uni- 
verse was created : and you cannot relin- 
quish it without running against difficulties 
equally formidable, whether you turn toward 
atheism or pantheism. There are just as 
many inconceivabilities in atheism and in 
pantheism as in theism. 

To reject the gospel on account of the 
mysteries which it contains, and j^et hold 
fast to other beliefs which are equally mys- 
terious, is a palpable inconsistency. 

You complain that some things are re- 
vealed which you cannot verify. That is 
true. But some things are told you which 
you can verify. There are mysteries in the- 
ological science, as there are mysteries in 
physiological science ; but there are plain 
principles laid down in each of these sciences 
which you can test for yourselves. Physi- 
ology says that good bread, if it is eaten, will 
support life. You may not understand all 
the mysteries of digestion and assimilation, 

13 



140 BUT AND IF. 

but you can verify that statement. The 
New Testament saj^s that faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ will save the soul from sin. 
You may not comprehend all the mysteries 
of the incarnation and the atonement ; 
but here is the one truth which concerns 
you, and you can verify it. You can jBnd 
out, of a certainty, whether he is able to 
deliver you from the evil, and to strengthen 
you in righteousness. " It is so," says Mat- 
thew Arnold : '' try it, and you will find it 
to be so. Try all the ways to righteousness 
that you can think of, and you will find 
that no way brings you to it except the 
way of Jesus, but that this way does bring 
you to it." This is the test to which our 
religion is always ready to submit. This is 
the test which the Lord himself has ap- 
pointed. He has not promised that the uni- 
verse shall contain no mysteries ; he could 
not promise that without taking himself out 
of the universe : but he does promise, that if 
we will trust him, and obey him, he will give 
us power to overcome the evil, — pow^r to 

14 



BUT AND IF. 141 

become the sons of God. And the man who 
refuses to put that promise to the proof 
most clearly shows that his mind is not in a 
condition to receive any vital truth. 

A host of these objections and excuses 
yet remain, which I must dismiss with only 
a word of argument, 

'' I suppose," says one, " that these things 
are true ; but I cannot realize their truth. 
The whole subject of religion is to me hazy 
and unreal." Of course it is ; and it always 
will be until you have applied it to your own 
life. You cannot realize that honey is sweet 
until you have tasted it. " Taste, and see 
that the Lord is good." You cannot realize 
the luxury of doing good till you have tried 
it. The substance of all realities is in this 
religion of Jesus Christ ; but it can be real 
only to those who will do his will. 

" But, if I am of the number of the elect, 
I shall be saved at any rate ; and, if I am not 
of that number, it is no use for me to try to 
save myself." Now, my friend, you either 
believe this doctrine of election, or you don't 

15 



142 BUT AKD IF. 

believe it. If you don't believe it, you have 
no right to quote it as an excuse. If you do 
believe it, you believe that God has fore- 
ordained all things, whatsoever comes to 
pass. His decrees determine every other de- 
partment of your life, as well as your reli- 
gious experience. If it is decreed that you 
shall be rich, you will be rich ; and, accord- 
ing to your logic, there is no need that you 
should turn over your hand to increase your 
store. If it is decreed that you should build 
a house, or harvest a crop, or make a jour- 
ney, or understand a science, all these things 
will come to pass. You may sit still, and 
fold your hands, and, whatever God has ap- 
pointed for you, you will be sure to get. 
But you do not act on that principle in secu- 
lar matters ; and you would say that a man 
who did so was a fool. The practice would 
be just as rational in secular matters as it is 
in religious matters. 

" But what can mortal man do to secure 
his own salvation?" (I am quoting the 
very words of a question that was addressed 

16 



BUT AND IF. 143 

to me.) Mortal man can do just what God 
bids him do. He can repent and believe. 
He can arise and follow Christ, as Matthew 
did. 

" I know that I ought to do it ; but I can't 
decide." You can decide. " Choose ye 
whom ye will serve." The power of choice 
is yours. The responsibility of choice rests 
upon you, and upon you alone. God can- 
not choose for you. But you can settle the 
question, if you will, this very hour. You 
know that you can. 

" But I want to act deliberately. I no not 
want to take this step rashly." Deliber- 
ately ! How long have you been deliberat- 
ing on this matter? All of you for many 
months, most of you for many years. Have 
you not taken time enough to deliberate? 
Let me tell you, my friend, it is not well to 
stop very long to think when a plain duty 
simimons you. The sooner you do it, the 
better. Suppose that you have doner your 
neighbor a wrong, and you are moved to go 
and confess it, and ask his pardon. " But 

17 



144 BUT AND IF. 

wait," you say. " Let me not be rash about 
this. Let me take time to deliberate." So 
you sit down and think it over, and give the 
selfish passions of your soul time to assert 
themselves. You are able, perhaps, in your 
deliberation, to think of some unkindness 
that your neighbor has done you: at anj'- 
rate, you can find flaws enough in his life ; 
and very likely you may succeed in getting 
yourself into a frame of mind in which frank 
acknowledgment of the wrong you have 
done him will be altogether impossible. De- 
liberation upon a deed to which honor and 
magnanimity and all the nobler sentiments 
prompt you is too apt to strangle the im- 
pulse that leads you to do it. It is just such 
a deed as this which you now propose to 
ponder and discuss a little longer. My 
friend, you cannot afford to do it. You have 
hurt yourself already by your deliberation. 
The time to decide is now. 

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